


the executives

by 99yeon



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F, HS!AU, student council!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-02 14:18:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12728205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/99yeon/pseuds/99yeon
Summary: Nine girls in student council, and one hell of a school year.





	1. knights of the L-shaped table

As all good things do, this starts with a bang.

 

The type that leaves a champagne cork slamming into Nayeon's midriff, and gets bubbles _everywhere_.

"I think I'm dead," Nayeon whimpers, and crashes into the dusty ground. She gets up a moment later, squeaking in indignation at how dirty the council room is. "Double dead now."

 

Jihyo sighs.

 

This is going to be a long year.

 

-

 

Their first meeting and the ceremonial champagne-pop are supposed to signify a few things. Firstly, the exit of the old student government and the entry of the new one, which isn't happening, because this is the first student government their school has ever elected. (Jihyo blames budget cuts and poor planning, but there _is_ something exciting about being the very first. She fancies herself a trailblazer.)

 

Secondly, the end of the campaign season, which was tiring all over and featured Jihyo sleeping a total of five hours across five days. The same can probably be said for the rest of the student council, especially one of their two sophomore publicity heads that Jihyo knows to be Chou Tzuyu, the popular sprinter and star of the track team. She looks like she hasn't gotten a good night's sleep since she was born. Jihyo's personally just glad that the emotionally taxing campaign season is over, and they can start work on things that actually matter instead of giving out hotdogs to buy votes. (Their internal liaison, some girl in her year named Kim Dahyun, did that. Jihyo's still impressed at the number of hotdogs she had on hand.)

 

Thirdly, the whole champagne thing is supposed to signify the coming of a prosperous age for all of them. It's highly prestigious, but the mood is ruined by the fact that they're sitting in a dusty council room that hasn't been cleaned in _years_ and looks like it was used by the zoology club for sheep shearing. That, and them not knowing each other at all. Jihyo knows Nayeon and Jeongyeon, of course, and she kind of knows Sana because duh, Nayeon and Sana have been together since middle school, but that's about it. Oh, and Momo. She doesn't quite remember how she knows Momo, but she does. They're all seniors, and Jihyo is still absently worrying about how they'll take to having a junior as council president.

 

That said, there's nothing to do now but find out. Jihyo claps her hands once, and watches disorganized chaos unfold across the room. The four senior students seem to have banded together already - Jeongyeon has a string of fairy lights slung over her chest like a toga, and Momo is hanging off her and trying to pull the fairy lights in her direction. In addition to that, they seem to have adopted Dahyun - the younger girl is talking animatedly to Nayeon and Sana, and nearly hits Sana in the face with how excited she is.

 

Only the sophomores - Chaeyoung and Tzuyu - are paying attention. They're in seats beside each other, not close enough to imply that they know each other, but close enough to show unity. It must be tough, being the only underclassmen in a council of nine. Jihyo remembers being like that, and smiles wistfully.

 

Along with them is Myoui Mina, another girl in her year who was elected logistics head of the council. Jihyo realizes that this means that Mina will end up working closely with their treasurer, Nayeon, and sends a quick prayer out there for Mina.

 

Mina gives her a small smile when their eyes meet, and Jihyo finds herself filled with confidence to tame this unruly bunch. If she could get the student body to vote for her in an overwhelming landslide of an election, she can get this council under control. Her body buzzes with the excitement of being able to call them 'her' council. This is real, this is happening!

 

She claps her hands together again, "Hi!"

 

"Hi," the seniors (and Dahyun) chorus. Mina, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu look uncomfortable at what looks like a clique, but Jihyo brushes it off and makes it her personal mission to integrate everyone into the council.

 

"Hi everyone!" Jihyo puts on her best smile. "I'm Jihyo, your president. I hope we can have a good year together! How about we go in a circle and introduce ourselves! You can say your name, your grade, and one interesting fact about you. I'll go first. I'm Jihyo, I'm a junior, and I really like vanilla lattes!"

 

"We're not even in a circle," Mina points out apologetically.

 

"I never let that get me down," Jihyo replies, pointing at Mina. "You can go next!"

 

"Jihyo," Jeongyeon says, "You're shaking."

 

"Am not," Jihyo says defensively, but it's true. Tzuyu winces from her seat and holds out her hands to steady Jihyo, as if anticipating her fainting. Jihyo feels insulted by the very notion. "It's just excitement."

 

Jeongyeon comes behind her as means of moral support, and Jihyo lets out a long breath. She makes a note to thank Jeongyeon later and Google how to give good welcome addresses. She really should've watched that compilation of presidential inauguration speeches last night when hyping herself up for this. Nayeon had called her excessive on their Skype call, but Nayeon is, well, Nayeon.

 

"How about we get into a circle?" Jihyo grins.

 

-

 

"Hi, everyone!" Sana chirps. "I'm Sana, the external liaison. I'm a senior and a fun fact about me is that, uh, I'm..." She looks to Nayeon helplessly, unable to think of a suitably fun fact about herself. Nayeon thinks, too, before whispering into Sana's ear. Sana brightens up. "Oh, yes! I scream when my inner thighs get touched."

 

"Do I want to know why you know this?" Jihyo sighs. Chaeyoung looks like she doesn't get it, and is pestering her to tell her. (Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon have gotten suspiciously pally within the span of half an hour. No one's complaining, but it's just... shady.)

 

"You do that too!" Momo exclaims, nudging Jeongyeon.

 

"Next, please," Tzuyu calls.

 

All eyes fall on Nayeon. She shrugs, "I'm Nayeon, the treasurer, and uh, I failed calculus twice in a year." She does the 'I'm watching you' gesture when Chaeyoung and Dahyun burst out laughing, even to Mina who looks like she's having a hard time holding it in. "I'm also the eldest here, I think."

 

"Grandma," Jeongyeon mumbles.

  
After the introductions are done, they end up going through the workplan for the year. "Seeing as it's our first year, I don't think we'll have to do much, so we can plan for maybe four, five events," Jihyo says, poring over the school calendar. "Two of them are the winter formal and prom, so that's that."

 

"We should start off with a fundraising event," Mina says quietly. That's all Jihyo has gleaned from her so far - that she's pretty, and very quiet. She's pretty sure Mina even moves silently, like a cat. At any rate, it's a refreshing change of pace from the rest of the council, especially the seniors. "We don't have anything in our treasury."

 

"Seconded," Nayeon says, and high-fives Mina. Mina's smile is gummy and is up there in Jihyo's top ten sights.  
  
There are nods from the rest of the table. (The table is sort of circular and sort of L-shaped, and Jihyo likes the feel of it, even though it's old and donated from the library out of pity. It makes her feel like one of the knights of the round table.) "Okay, so what should we do?"

 

"Naked car wash," Sana suggests immediately.

  
"No, no," Dahyun shakes her head, scrunching up her face, "That's too risque. Half-naked car wash."

 

"How about a bake sale?" Chaeyoung suggests. "We can collaborate with the middle school's PTA. My mom makes good cookies. I'm sure we could get them to sponsor us or something."

 

"And we can bake at someone's place, too," Tzuyu supplies helpfully, looking away shyly when Chaeyoung beams at her. "It can be the council's first bonding activity?" Tzuyu sounds ridiculously earnest, and Jihyo told herself that she was tougher than this, but she finds herself nodding anyway.

 

"Great idea. Any other contributions?" Jihyo claps her hands. "My place this weekend?"

 

-

 

Given the fact that there isn't any money in the treasury to count, Nayeon takes it upon herself to help Sana out with contacting the PTA for the bake sale. And of course, with all things -- they get distracted. They don't even make it down to the storeroom down the hall before Jihyo has to step in to separate them, and even then they're still holding hands as they skip back to the council room. It's disgustingly sweet, and Jihyo wonders how they're going to do their council duties with each other in the way. Nayeon's saving grace is her offer to bring in beanbags from home to put in the room. Sana says she'll sign a softball and they can pass it down to future student governments.

 

Mina and Tzuyu, meanwhile, are helping out to clean up the council room. Mina has a broom, and Tzuyu a mop. Dahyun makes herself useful by carrying the dustpan around and telling Mina that she'll be here as long as Tzuyu needs her - very kind but not very necessary. Chaeyoung pitches in by guarding the bucket of mop-water, though Jihyo suspects that might just be a ploy to get near Tzuyu.

 

Jeongyeon and Momo disappear together, too, but for something actually productive, because they come back with even more decorations. Jeongyeon hangs a little chalkboard that says 'STUDENT COUNCIL 2017-2018' on the front door, and Momo is nice enough to draw nine little figurines to the members' likeness. They spend the rest of the afternoon pasting motivational quotes and framed art prints on the wall to, as they say, 'jazz up the atmosphere', and Jihyo is feeling much more comfortable in it by the end.

 

It's nice, and Jihyo can see everything slotting into place already. It hadn't been the most dramatic or amazing of beginnings, but it's less about the beginning and more about the journey, Jihyo tells herself. Or so she's heard. Either way, as she watches the council begin to fall into a pattern that looks like a well-oiled machine, she can't help but smile.

 

_Her council._

 

She likes the sound of that.

 

-

 

"They got caught again?" Momo laughs, letting Jeongyeon nip at her throat and press her into the bedspread.

 

They're in Momo's bedroom, with the door wide open and Momo would honestly care more about this if not for the fact that Jeongyeon is on top of her right now. She'll apologize later, if they get caught. Which they won't. Because they're masters of hiding. Hiding from their friends, hiding from their parents, hiding with each other.

 

It's not a perfect arrangement, but Momo'll take it.

 

"They're dumb," Jeongyeon affirms, pressing kisses to Momo's collarbone, fingers tugging gently at Momo's button-up shirt to pull it past her shoulders. Jeongyeon's expressed hatred of button-ups so often - she's not savage enough to rip them open, but she's also not patient enough to unbutton them one by one. Momo says they should go shopping for new shirts soon.

 

They really should.

 

"But they don't have to hide," Momo muses. She lifts her hips when Jeongyeon asks her to, but the expression on her face is thoughtful, intimate, as if she's not quite here. It's distracting, and Jeongyeon would really rather not be distracted right now. Not with the way Momo is just lying here, toned and breathy and even more excited than she was when they were in school.

 

Sometimes, Jeongyeon wonders how their friends don't pick up on the tension between her and Momo. Only Nayeon knows, and she had to walk in on Jeongyeon and Momo to find out. Even then, she'd asked if the two of them were 'having sex but in a platonic way'. She asks that regularly.

 

(Jeongyeon never knows how to answer.)

 

But she concedes that it might be for the best. Sana is too wrapped up with softball and Nayeon at any given time to pay much attention to the intricacies of Jeongyeon and Momo's relationship, and she doesn't really know Momo so it's alright. Jihyo is too busy studying and overachieving to pay much heed to them, too, and Jeongyeon supposes she can't blame her. Jihyo has different goals. She wants a shining college application, and Jeongyeon... Well, Jeongyeon isn't sure yet, but she wants different.

 

"We aren't them," Jeongyeon says, and it sounds like a promise.

 

-

 

Dahyun is the one to create a group chat, having acquired all their numbers within minutes of leaving the council room. There are no texts for a moment as they add contacts, and then it's chaos. Dahyun's pretty sure she sees a nude meant for someone else enter the group chat before it's hastily removed. That, and everyone's embarrassing screen names.

 

(And hey, Dahyun's screen name isn't embarrassing, okay? tofumaster98 is a _very_ sought after moniker.)

 

Memes enter the group chat soon after. Jeongyeon sends a rage comic that looks like it's from 2012. Tzuyu replies with an emoji. That's alright, Dahyun can forgive that. Nayeon misuses a piece of texting slang, and everyone collectively calls her grandma. Dahyun shakes her head, smiling as she watches the texts unfold on the screen. Reading all of this makes her feel warm, even when Mina makes five typos in one text, even when Momo tells Chaeyoung to 'eat her ass' and Chaeyoung responds with 'gladly'. This feels like home, even if it's too early to say.

  
She sets her phone aside and goes back to work.

 

-

 

Jihyo's door is wide open when Chaeyoung reaches her place - Jihyo had sent her address out in an extremely obnoxious, emoji-ridden text that cordially invited everyone to come over and bake. She had added in the text that it was 'BYOF' - that is, bring your own flour.

  
The first thing she sees is Sana running around with her face caked in flour. She steels herself for the sight that greets her within, and surprisingly, it's not as bad as Chaeyoung thought it would be. Sure, it's bad, but she had expected someone to have accidentally stuck their head in an oven by now.

 

"Chaeyoung!" Jeongyeon greets, thumping her back affectionately. She has an oven mitt on one of her hands and a softball in the other hand, a softball that appears to be Sana's, from the way the other girl is yelling at Jeongyeon to give it back. "Sorry, Minatozaki," Jeongyeon giggles, tossing the ball over to Momo. Chaeyoung spots Jihyo walking Sana to the sink to wash the flour off her face.

 

"Jesus," Chaeyoung says out loud. Tzuyu looks up from the recipe book, laughing at the expression on Chaeyoung's face.

 

"Hi," Tzuyu smiles, "We're making muffins." She nods to a steaming tray sitting on the counter, where some muffins are being left to cool. Chaeyoung doesn't miss the way one of them has a huge bite taken out of it. That, and the fact that Momo's lips look the slightest bit burnt, and that she looks extremely sulky.

  
Ah.

 

"Any way I can help?" Chaeyoung asks, picking up the dropped oven mitt. Nayeon has the other oven mitt, and she waves cheerfully at Chaeyoung from her spot on the stairs. She's holding her phone in her other hand, pointing it at Sana and Jihyo as Sana washes off the mess on her face. Chaeyoung doesn't even want to think how it got to this state.

 

Mina appears, hair in a ponytail and looking extremely domestic as she searches for a socket to plug the electric mixer into. "Could you sift two cups of flour? Sana was supposed to do it, but she got all of it on her face."

 

"Not an accident," Dahyun, who's beating the eggs, grumbles. Chaeyoung didn't even know muffin recipes called for eggs to be beaten. She agrees, grabbing the flour and sifting out two cups as Mina asks, and they're an efficient machine for a while, with Tzuyu copying out recipes so that everyone stays on task. (Something that is totally Momo's job, but Momo delegates the butter and sugar mixing to herself, so that's that.) She may or may not lick the spoon once or twice, but that's the perks of the job, she supposes.

 

-

 

"These look pretty good," Nayeon says, tying up the last of the packages. Since none of the seniors were useful enough to bake, they were convinced (read: Mina gave them a look) to help package the muffins instead. It's a relaxing job, and Nayeon and Sana even sit across the room from each other so they don't get distracted. Like a well-oiled machine, even. "How much are we pricing them at? Three thousand per pack?"

  
"These are priceless," Momo declares, eating a deformed muffin that Tzuyu had deemed 'so fucked up that it's okay if you eat it'. "Good job, maknaes. All five of you."

 

Dahyun finger-guns Momo, seeming to enjoy being called that. The others, however, do not take so kindly to that, and Momo pretends to cower underneath the heat of Tzuyu's stare and cry for mercy.

 

"You're so lame, Momo-unnie," Tzuyu shakes her head, sounding wise beyond her years. Momo reaches over to ruffle her hair affectionately, and Tzuyu tilts her head to hide her smile.

 

In the corner of the room, Sana announces, "There's flour in my bra."

 

No response.

 

" _Nayeonnie_ ," Sana repeats, "There's flour in my bra."

 

Nayeon blinks, before her eyes widen. "Oh. Oh. Okay. You can come over and wash it off later."

  
Sana grins, and even Mina joins the rest in making gagging noises.

 

-

 

"Beautiful," Sana sighs drowsily, hanging off Nayeon's bed as Nayeon comes out of the washroom in nothing more than a sports bra and shorts. Nayeon's hair is still wet, and she smells like grape-scented shampoo when she walks past Sana to get to her study desk, and it makes Sana that much drowsier. "Nayeonnie," Sana whines, "Come here."

 

"Busy, baby," Nayeon replies, flicking through her binder. There's a stack of undone calculus homework that Nayeon had carelessly stuck in there, and she has a vivid flashback to her teacher telling her that she would get her off the council if it meant passing calculus. She shudders.

 

Sana props her head up with her hands, kicking her legs out impatiently. She sinks a little more into the mattress, and she sighs happily, because Nayeon's bed is really comfortable and Sana doesn't want to leave. But she knows when she isn't wanted, and she doesn't want to bother Nayeon. They used to have a problem with telling each other when they needed alone time, and Sana's glad that they're over it. "Should I go?"

 

Nayeon hums, picking up a pen and writing her name. It's a start. "You can stay, but I'm not going to be done for a long while. I'll Skype you later?"

 

Sana perks up. Their Skype sessions have always teetered the line between friendly and risque, and she's willing to take that chance. What can she say? She's hormonal.

 

"I'll see myself out," Sana hops off.

 

"Love you!" Nayeon calls out behind her, because she does.

 

-

 

"Hey," Mina greets as Momo enters the backroom, wrapping her apron around her as she does so. She has no idea why they have to wear the apron when they rarely get to go out in front and make the drinks, anyway. "You didn't come yesterday. Yongsun was asking where you were." Yongsun is their manager who is often too busy with school to even come down, who pays their barista extra to mark her as present, so Mina's not too sure why she even bothered asking where Momo was yesterday. Momo hates her.

 

"Busy," Momo says briefly, before wrapping Mina in an affectionate hug. "Sorry I didn't get to talk to you much during the council meeting. How's things?"

 

"Council or life?"

 

Momo takes a checklist off the wall, beginning to tick off the shipments that arrived this morning. "Start anywhere, little buddy."

 

"Okay," Mina nods, "Well, I think I have a platonic crush on our council president."

 

"Platonic crush," Momo says calmly.

 

"Yes, a platonic crush." The younger girl adjusts her glasses on the bridge of her nose, "You know, like when you're not crushing on someone in the romantic sense, but in a friendship sort of way. Jihyo is interesting. I want to be friends with her."

 

"A platonic crush," Momo shakes her head, laughing at the completely serious, slightly puzzled look on Mina's face, "You kids have new words for everything nowadays."

 

-

 

Sana ends up going for a run around the neighborhood, going home to change into a getup not unlike Nayeon's before she starts off at a steady pace. It's not often that she gets to do this - Nayeon absolutely hates exercise and will do anything to avoid it, which usually leads to Sana bribing her to lead an active lifestyle - and Sana likes it, likes the evening sun beating down on her face as she jogs through the neighborhood.

 

Her muscles feel well-stretched instead of tired, and she's relieved that she hasn't lost all her fitness. Competition season is coming up, and Sana tells herself that she's got to be in tip-top shape. No more, no less. She even mimes the actions of batting as she runs past the school, and would probably do sliding drills if the space permitted it.  
  
She squints into the evening sun, seeing a familiar figure in front of her. They're moving at a much faster pace than Sana is, and so she puts in a little more energy into her movements, hoping that it's who she thinks she is.

 

"Good training session?" Sana huffs as she catches up with Tzuyu. The sprinter looks startled but slows down enough for Sana to keep pace. (Sana is offended - she's the captain of the softball team, and she thought Tzuyu would know that, at least. She's really got to promote herself more.) "What are you doing outside school on a Sunday, kid?"

 

"Same as you," Tzuyu deadpans, "Training. School's closed on Sundays."

  
They jog in silence for a mile or so before Sana starts huffing, and then they stop for water. Sana acts like she wasn't about to collapse, but a wily smile from Tzuyu shows that she sees throught it. Tzuyu is cool, for a sophomore. She doesn't pretend to know things that she doesn't, or wear ugly hypebeast clothing, which is more than Sana can say for herself when she was in tenth grade. Tzuyu has this dignified air about her, and Sana finds herself watching jealously as Tzuyu downs a Pocari Sweat.

 

"You're pushing yourself pretty hard," she notes as Tzuyu does warm-down stretches.

 

The younger girl shrugs. "I have to."

 

"How come? Reputation?" Sana's more than aware of Tzuyu's star reputation, and also the fact that she single-handedly carries the track and cross country to regional victory. Tzuyu seems the type who would want to keep up that sort of reputation, whether it may be for her ego or for posterity. "Didn't peg you for the shallow type, Chou Tzuyu."

 

Tzuyu turns and gives her a withering look that makes Sana regret that she spoke. "No. I need the scholarships."

 

"Oh." Sana is from a well-to-do family, a trust fund kid if you will, but Tzuyu doesn't need to know that. "Sorry." It's awkward, the wealth disconnect between people. Sana's well aware that some kids in the school can't afford the clothes they wear, that a street from where she lives is abject poverty.

 

"I'm going to go for another round," Tzuyu says, "See you around, unnie."

 

-

 

Chaeyoung has been staring at the same poster for the past hour, and with a sigh, she calls up Jihyo. The president is nowhere to be seen on the document Chaeyoung shared with her - she'd left after Chaeyoung assured her that she'd be able to design the publicity poster for the bake sale alone, but Chaeyoung's rethinking that bold claim now. The poster is a mess of pastel colours Chaeyoung thought would look good together, and some clip art that she'd found online. So much for being an artist.

 

" _Hello_?"

 

"Jihyo, problem," Chaeyoung sighs, "The poster looks bad."

 

" _I saw it a few minutes ago. I like the colours._ "

 

"You do?"

 

 _"Mhm. They go well together. You sure you're not just tired? When did you last sleep_?"

 

"Uh," Chaeyoung checks the clock, "Like, yesterday, I think."

 

" _Son Chaeyoung_."

 

"Okay, _maybe_ I forgot to sleep," Chaeyoung confesses, "But it's not a big deal. It helps with my artistic integrity."

 

" _Chaeyoung, I will_ not _have you fall asleep during council tomorrow. Please, get some sleep. I'll finish up the poster for you._ "

 

"You're the best," the sophomore sighs, laying back into her bed.

 

 _"I know. Now goodnight._ "

 

-

 

 **sana [9:30pm]** : babe !! how's your homework

                             miss you :(

 **nayeonnie <3 [10:01pm]**: Something cropped up, I'm occupied till midnight

                                               Can't call. :/

 **sana [10:02pm]** : anything i can help with??

 **nayeonnie <3 [10:33pm]**: No it's fine go to bed

                                            I love you

 **sana [10:35pm]** : love you too <3

 

-

 

"Jesus, Sana," Jeongyeon whistles, "Just how many moms did you get to join our bake sale?"

 

Sana blushes appropriately, simpering in an affected manner. "It wasn't all me. Dahyun contacted some moms that she knew through Little League."

 

"Aw, shucks," Dahyun says, and this moment would be perfect and tranquil if not for the fact that Momo charges into the room at this moment, shouting.

 

"Barricade the doors!"

 

Jihyo stands up, frazzled, "What-"

 

"Too many moms," Momo huffs, sliding down the door in a bid to keep it shut. There's a bandana wrapped around her head, and she shakes it loose. "They're fighting in the hallway, now, over booth slots. Chaeyoung and Mina are trying to mediate, but it's not working." A scream echoes from the hallway.

 

"Our bravest comrades..." Dahyun mourns, throwing her hands in the air and falling to her knees, shaking her fist at the sky for a moment before she gets up again. "Well, they're gone."

 

There's another explosion of noise, and then Nayeon comes in barreling a moment later, pushing past Momo with what looks like whipped cream spread over her forehead. She looks like she's about to cry. "That was meringue," she whispers. "It's so, so sweet."

 

Sana has gone pale. Jihyo turns slowly to look at her.

 

"Sana, did you not allocate them booths? Did you not tell them that they had to sign up to get to paricipate in this bake sale?"

 

"I've made so many mistakes," Sana whispers.

 

"Sana- oh my god," Jihyo sighs, patting Sana on the back before opening the doors, urging a shell-shocked Momo to move away. Momo grabs Jihyo's leg in a bid to prevent her from leaving, to keep her safe, but Jihyo shakes her off with a laugh. "I'm going to rescue Mina and Chaeyoung. Please, do not let Nayeon come into contact with anything until after she has a shower."

 

And with a flourish, the girl they elected student council president leaves to fix what ultimately becomes known as the Bake Sale Incident of August 2017, or the BS Incident for short. By the end of it all, twelve rabid moms have to be escorted off premises, baked goods included, the treasury gains about two hundred thousand won, and faculty warns them that they are on _extremely_ thin ice.

 

Or in other words, it's all part of the job.


	2. exposé

Everyone has a story of how they met, and despite what Jihyo thinks, most of the council has history with each other.

 

Momo and Mina met two years ago when Mina first started out at the Starbucks outlet they work at, and became friends over stacking boxes and shittalking their then-manager, who was a wanker who couldn't tell his left from his right, or his frappes from his Americanos. It was a slow start, because Mina hid behind boxes when Momo came in for the better part of a month, but Momo had come in one day grumbling about being written up and things have fallen into place from then on. They're an unlikely pair, but Mina likes to have a older figure around to guide her (though it's usually the other way round).

 

Dahyun and Tzuyu know each other from that period in Dahyun's sophomore year when she was cycling through various after-school activities and settled on the track team for two months. She was a good sprinter, energetic and twitchy, though she depleted the team's stash of energy drinks in a week and ended up twisting her ankle after tripping over a misplaced hurdle at the first track meet of the season. Tzuyu bought her a bottle of Gatorade as a goodbye gift when Dahyun announced her departure, and that's all there is to it.

  
Chaeyoung might be the only person who doesn't have prior connection with anyone in the council, but that's overriden by how fast she opens up to new people. The spunky sophomore already has Jeongyeon and Tzuyu wrapped around her little finger, and that's within the first day of meeting. It's pleasant, and Jihyo knows that there won't be any problem getting Chaeyoung comfortable.

 

Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo know each other from... well, even they're not sure where they know each other from, because they've been friends for so incomprehensibly long. Since birth, possibly, although Jeongyeon likes to bring up the point that Nayeon couldn't walk until she was two, and that Jihyo didn't speak till she was three. Jeongyeon also likes to call herself a 'developmental diva', so that's that.

 

Simply put, the three of them have been friends since forever, whether it may be because of their mothers also being best friends and putting their almost identically-aged children together to play, or that time when they all joined the photography club in elementary school, which had zero real cameras, for the record. (Only Nayeon ended up staying in photography, up till junior year when she quit to join council.) One of Jihyo's earliest memories, in fact, is yelling at Jeongyeon to come inside when she was out in the garden in the rain, looking for a snail to put in Nayeon's toybox.   
  
And then there's Nayeon and Sana. They met halfway through a softball match on the last day of sixth grade, with Nayeon in the stands to support Jeongyeon. Or to be more accurate, Sana accidentally let go of her bat while batting, which let to said bat meeting Nayeon's face. Sana had ignored the screams from the bleachers and completed a home run, only realizing what she had done when she looked up and Nayeon was on the floor.

 

She had visited Nayeon in the hospital, Nayeon had kissed her while she was hopped up on painkillers, and the story tells itself. Nayeon hates it when people say she and Sana have been together since forever, but it's true - they spent seventh and eighth grade dating in that tentative, awkward middle schooler way, before entering high school and becoming a lot less awkward and a lot more interested in touching each other all the time. A glow-up indeed.

 

-

**mina [4:12pm]:** so, jihyo, i was thinking

                             we should have an outing somewhere! for bonding purposes

                             :D

 

-

 

"Momo-unnie? What are you doing with my phone-" Mina's face falls when her phone begins lighting up and ringing. The look on Momo's face is positively devious, and Mina knows Momo well enough to know that that is _bad_ news. "Oh no."

 

 **jihyo [4:13pm]** : oh yeah sure! i dont mind

 

"No need to thank me," Momo says, and Mina groans, fervently typing. Momo has been relentless about getting Mina and Jihyo to get closer since Mina told her about the 'platonic crush' the other day. That, and relentless in making fun of Mina for calling it a 'platonic crush'.

 

( _"You know I'm not homophobic, right? Just say it, Minari. You're gay."_

_"Am not. It is a friend crush," Mina insists, only for Momo to burst into laughter again._ )

 

 **mina [4:14pm]** : sorry momo had my phone

                             what i meant was like a group outing! all 9 of us

 **jihyo [4:15pm]** : oh

                             yeah sure! ill text the group chat to ask where they want to go

 

Looking over her shoulder, Momo groans. "Minari, you just cockblocked _yourself_."

 

"There is no blocking of cocks," Mina says sagely, swiping out of the conversation and watching as Jihyo sends the invitation to the council group chat. "It's just weird to suggest a one-on-one outing like that, unnie. She probably thought it was weird too."

 

Momo devolves into a fit of coughs and eye-rolls. Mina pats her back sympathetically - Momo's been so sick recently.

 

"Besides," Mina remarks, "This'll be a good opportunity for the council to bond."

 

"Would be nicer if it was just the two of you."

 

"For the last time--"

 

-

 

The date and venue are settled quickly with input from the rest of the council - the newly opened amusement park seems to excite most of them, even Dahyun who mentions that she gets motion sick from rollercoasters. And ferris wheels. And merry-go-rounds.

 

 _Especially_ those.

 

-

 

"Hey, can I sit here?"

  
Chaeyoung looks up, eyes widening when she sees Tzuyu towering over her, lunch tray in hand. The fellow sophomore looks expectant, and Chaeyoung nods quickly, scooting over before Tzuyu changes her mind, "Yeah sure, sure."

 

"Thanks."

  
Tzuyu tucks into her food - she'd nicked one of the trays to splay her home-packed lunch out, and Chaeyoung stares enviously at the rice and hot soup Tzuyu has. There might even be _real meat_ there, nestled right in the centre of the rice.

 

She looks back at her own food. Chaeyoung wasn't really planning on eating the stuff that the cafeteria served today, preferring to just stay on her phone until the bell goes. It's not like anyone's going to stop her - she spends most her lunch breaks alone, out of choice rather than some middle-schooler bullying tactic, and she's kind of waiting for Tzuyu to tell her why she's here and not with the rest of the track team.

  
She sneaks a glance at them. They even look expectant, staring at Tzuyu's back as if it'll encourage Tzuyu to realize that she didn't mean to sit here. With Chaeyoung, some nobody they probably don't know.

 

 _Track star meets lonely artist_ , Chaeyoung thinks, and rolls her eyes. What a cliche. Now if only she'd stop thinking about how heavy her limbs feel, or that her heart is beating so fast it might fall out and onto the floor and then Tzuyu will be so disgusted that she walks away -- yeah, that'd be great. She just wishes she would stop thinking about Tzuyu kissing her, is that so hard to ask for?

 

No response from Tzuyu. She continues eating, chewing silently until she notices Chaeyoung's face.

 

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

 

"What, I can't look at a pretty girl?" Chaeyoung retorts.

 

Tzuyu has the decency to tint pink before she rolls her eyes. "If you're wondering why I'm not with them-" she jabs a thumb at the track team "-it's because they're idiots. I was running out of patience."

  
"Haha, _running_ out of patience, I got the pun." Tzuyu gives her a look. "Oh, it wasn't a pun."

 

-

 

"Jihyo-unnie?"

 

Jihyo looks up from her notebook. She's referencing the latest copy of the school newsletter, copying down contact details of sponsors and whatnot if the student council should need them. It's hard work, but she doesn't mind.

 

It's five-thirty, and she and Dahyun are working together in the council room. They've been in here since school ended, and Jihyo thought Dahyun was having fun, too, but the brooding expression on the normally cheery girl's face says otherwise.

 

"Hm?"

 

Dahyun is hesitating, and Jihyo raises an eyebrow, motioning encouragingly for whatever Dahyun wants to say.

 

"I, uh, just wanted to thank you. For being so nice to me. You don't have to," Dahyun laughs awkwardly, avoiding Jihyo's eyes. Her own pair of eyes are misty, faraway, and Jihyo is concerned, leaning forward to examine Dahyun properly. "And I know it might just be out of pity, but uh, yeah. Thanks a lot."

 

"Dahyun? You okay?" Jihyo says, and Dahyun's eyes spontaneously fill with tears.

 

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." Dahyun laughs again, "I guess I'm just a little... overwhelmed by all this. I mean, I've never been in a position like this, and I'm really scared that I'm going to fuck it up. We all saw the mess that was the bake sale." Dahyun nibbles on her lip, something within her spurring her to keep talking, even though Jihyo honestly has no reason to know all of this.

 

Her emotions are something that are best kept in a locked box, hidden from the world. All she needs to do is laugh it off, and move on. There's no reason for any of this to ever see the light of the day, because Dahyun doesn't want to let anyone else in on how she really is. A scared girl who's desperate to please.

 

But... this is different. This council is something special, she knows.

 

"Well." Jihyo pulls Dahyun close for a hug. It feels like Jihyo hasn't ever given a hug, because their bodies slot together awkwardly and the pen Jihyo is still grasping pokes into Dahyun's back, but Jihyo's body is warm, and it's nice and comforting and Dahyun feels a lot better than she did a minute ago.

 

"You can cry it out, if you want," Jihyo suggests when she pulls away, and Dahyun grimaces.

 

"I'm not exactly the crying type. I'm more of the take pills and pass out type," and when she notices Jihyo's face fall, "No! I'm kidding! The medication _does_ help. And I do more than pass out, I swear."

 

"You joke about the weirdest things," Jihyo mumbles.

 

They don't even notice that Mina watching for a solid minute through the glass panel in the door, or the way their logistics head turns the other way and leaves school instead of dropping by the council room to bid the two of them goodbye. Maybe it's better if they don't.

 

-

 

"So," Jeongyeon waves her hand in the cloud that her humidifier's making, "What do you have for us?"

 

"I'm not sure this is the best place for an exposé."

 

"Oh, hush, it is perfect," Momo says sleepily, chewing on a stick of gum she stole from Chaeyoung's back pocket. Her eyes are fluttering from exhaustion, and Chaeyoung laughs at the way she squints to make out Chaeyoung's features properly. "Go on."

 

"This is like truth or dare, guys," Sana giggles.

 

Not for the first time, Chaeyoung wonders how she got here. Jeongyeon had invited her over for a 'bros night out' - whatever that means - and sent a picture of a can of beer, which was enough for Chaeyoung to come over.

 

(The alcohol turned out to be soda water and fruit punch mixed together, but that hasn't stopped Sana and Momo from acting like absolute fools and proclaiming how wasted they are. Chaeyoung thought that sort of behaviour stopped at freshman year.)

 

"Fine." Chaeyoung sighs, closing her eyes to ignore the three older girls wiggling their eyebrows at her. Her phone chimes, and the way she looks at the text notification is enough for all of them.

 

"Oh my God," Sana blurts out, "You're into Tzuyu."

 

"No way," Momo trills, then wraps Chaeyoung in an embrace, sniffling into Chaeyoung's shoulder. "Our baby lion's growing up!"

 

"It's not like that!" Chaeyoung blushes, feeling her entire face heat up. Jeongyeon and Momo are highfiving, and Sana looks so happy she might start frothing at the mouth. There isn't any mocking laughter, no remarks to make Chaeyoung feel bad about herself, so different from what she knows she would experience if she said this to her family. "She's just cute."

 

"Does she think you're cute?" Jeongyeon asks.

 

Chaeyoung shrugs, "I have no idea."

 

"Come on, look at the way she texts you," Momo's holding Chaeyoung's phone and reading the preview of the text Tzuyu sent Chaeyoung. It's nothing important, just a screenshot of a stupid comment Tzuyu found on a YouTube video, but Tzuyu embellishes her message with enough emojis and smileys for Momo to be certain of their mutual attraction. "She doesn't send half this many words in the council chat."

 

"Because Nayeon and Sana are flirting in it half the time! It's awkward," Chaeyoung says defensively, but she knows it's true. It's only been a month or so since they joined the council, but it's been fraught with enough interactions and tension between the two of them to burst a water pipe. Tzuyu has been nothing but kind and pretty, and Chaeyoung? Well, she's smitten.

 

Jeongyeon switches off the humidifier. "So how are you going to tell her?"

 

"I dunno."

 

"Bake her a cake," Momo suggests, "With her name on it."

 

"I'd rather not," Chaeyoung sighs, having an unfortunate flashback to the bake sale.

 

"Kiss her on the Ferris wheel this weekend," supplies Sana, grinning woozily when Jeongyeon and Momo _ahh_ appreciatively. "It's romantic. We'll find a way to get the two of you alone together."

 

"I... Yeah, you know what?" Chaeyoung bobs her head happily. "It's a plan."

 

"To a successful confession!" Momo says, and clinks their cans together.

 

-

 

Mina plugs in the mini fridge, smiling at it when it hums to life. She'd found it for ten thousand won off a very dodgy site, and had collected the fridge from an even dodgier seller, but she's glad that it's working. Momo's bringing in the coffee maker later - the older girl had taken one good look at the amount of merchandise their Starbucks was throwing out and declared that they could just take it. Which, naturally, is what they did. They got a few defective Starbucks cards along with the defective shipments, which Mina has decided to assign to everyone based on personality.

 

The council room is beginning to look like a proper council room - the air conditioner actually works now, thanks to Jeongyeon who had relentlessly hounded the estate department until they came over to fix it. It's clean, too, with Mina and Tzuyu's cleaning efforts paying off. There are even beanbags now, and cushions in the corner of the room to sleep on.

 

The council members themselves rotate in and out of the room, effectively ensuring that the place is always open to students who want to give feedback, or just check that the government they installed is functional. Jihyo had given all of them a talk on how to appear professional and handle queries well, and Mina thinks it's going well. The student population, by large, seems to appreciate their council, even if they had a rocky start.

 

Nayeon and Sana take Mondays and Thursdays, with the promise of not trying to play footsies while other people are in the room with them. (Once, at a meeting with some of the faculty, Nayeon trailed her foot all the way up her Physics teacher's thigh before she realized that he wasn't Sana. She still can't look him in the eye.) And despite all the jokes that have been made, Mina has to admit that they are a very efficient couple - Sana is the face of the couple, and Nayeon is the enforcer, getting whatever needs to be done done. And it does help that they're both pretty and eager to answer questions from curious students.

 

Dahyun, Jihyo and Chaeyoung take Wednesdays, usually the sluggiest point of the week, with the weekend neither here nor there. Mina and Momo are usually in the room on Fridays, which is one of the two weekdays where they don't have work, and Tzuyu and Jeongyeon take the helm on Tuesdays.

 

Despite this, it's pretty flexible, and Jihyo maintains that they have no obligation to be in the room all the time if they have nothing to do. It's great. Jihyo's great.

 

-

 

When the weekend eventually comes, it rains for the first part of the day, a light drizzle that turns Jihyo's white blouse translucent. Mina's face burns as she volunteers to help Jihyo dry off, and she sticks out her tongue at Momo when Jihyo isn't watching. They hang out at the sheltered food stalls for a while to hide from the rain, getting hotdogs and churros and chowing down even before they start their day. Sana is the biggest offender of this - she complains about the inflated prices of food in the amusement park, but treats herself and Tzuyu to churros.

 

Dahyun convinces Nayeon to come on a rollercoaster dubbed as 'Asia's greatest', and they disappear towards the tail end of the drizzle to go queue. It's a bad idea. Nayeon screams and grips onto Dahyun the entire time, and Dahyun's pretty sure that she passes out at least twice at the seventy-degree drops.

 

They end up splitting off into little groups. They do try to stay together, but it's interrupted when Nayeon and Dahyun retreat into the washrooms to throw up together after the particularly violent rollercoaster, a worried Sana and Jihyo following them in.

 

Jeongyeon and Momo couple off to the arcade, and the last anyone sees of them is when they disappear into an immersive horror game booth. Mina says something about wanting to wait to make sure Nayeon and Dahyun are alright, a thinly veiled excuse, leaving Chaeyoung and Tzuyu to go on rides together.

 

Tzuyu is uncharacteristically quiet when they get on the carousel - they opt to sit in a carriage instead of on horses, and Chaeyoung notices when the sride starts off that Tzuyu's gripping the railing so hard that her knuckles have gone white.

 

"You okay?" Chaeyoung asks concernedly. Tzuyu is ghostly white, and she's looking straight ahead. Ditzy music begins to blast from the speakers, and the youngest girl of their council looks like she might make a break for it, just unbuckle her seatbelt, invoke her sprinter training and escape. She laughs, "Are you scared?"

 

"Maybe," Tzuyu moans, and buries her face in her hands, her bravado entirely gone, "I fell off the carousel as a kid. This is my first time taking one in like, ten years."

 

She's shaking like a leaf, and Chaeyoung squeezes her hand comfortingly. (She pretends not to wince when Tzuyu squeezes her back entirely too hard. Who knew Tzuyu was that strong?)

 

"It's gonna be fine," Chaeyoung soothes, and it's kind of cute, how Tzuyu had fearlessly sat with Chaeyoung on the rollercoaster and barely even blinked when they dropped. The same girl is clinging on to her for dear life, and Chaeyoung thinks she could get to used to this. The carousel begins to turn, and Tzuyu scrunches her eyes shut.

 

"Don't let go," Tzuyu whimpers, and Chaeyoung agrees.

 

-

 

Nayeon and Sana are sitting opposite each other in a booth, waiting for their buzzer to go off so they can get more overpriced food. Nayeon is wrapped up in a towel bearing the amusement park's logo, weakly sipping from a glass of water that Sana paid five thousand won for. (Really, she hates consumerism, and the fact that there isn't a cheaper place to get water for another five miles.)

 

"Feeling better?"

 

Nayeon shrugs. She's playing with a coaster distractedly, dragging it across the length of the table, and Sana doesn't recognize the unreadable look on Nayeon's face. It might just be the nausea from the ride, but even at her sickest, Nayeon is still chatty, animated, and flirtatious. "Nayeonnie?"

 

"I'm fine," Nayeon says, a little harsh and Sana rears back, feeling stung. She softens when she notices Sana, but the look in her eyes is still hard. "Don't worry about me, baby."

  
They stare each other down for a few moments, waiting for the other to react.

 

The buzzer goes off, startling Sana, and Nayeon rises, the towel flopping around her shoulders, "I'll go get it."

 

"No, I will," Sana grabs the buzzer and crosses the room to get to the food collection point, feeling something uncomfortable and ugly bubble inside her. She doesn't like the weird, wiry tension between them, or how foreign it feels.

 

It simply doesn't make any sense, how they went from sexting last night to whatever's happening right now. This isn't the time or place for it. But she does know that there are things Nayeon is keeping from her, whether it may be out of selfless consideration for Sana or otherwise, things that she wants to know.

 

Nayeon ends up not eating, shrugging when Sana offers her a bite of the burger they intended to share and telling her that it's fine. When they eventually return to meet with the other girls, it's unpleasant and awkward between them, and Sana doesn't like it. Not one bit.

 

-

 

"I look like a fool," Jihyo whines, tugging at the black sweater they had gotten from the gift shop. Her hair falls in her face, wet and sticking to her forehead (no thanks to the spectacularly splashy ride Mina suggested they go on), and she looks adorably sulky. "This is dri-fit, Minari."

 

Mina starts at the nickname, wondering where Jihyo got that from. Has she been talking to Momo? She doesn't want to think what Momo could've told Jihyo about.

 

_Yeah, Mina has a friend-crush on you. It's not romantic though, so don't worry._

The truth is that Mina is still struggling with who she is, and who she likes. She knows she likes guys - that football player in her Biology class made her heart flutter for a good period of time in sophomore year - but the question is whether or not she's into girls too. In the meantime, she tells herself that it's a platonic crush. She really wants to be friends with Jihyo, so she'll become friends with her. And then these confusing feelings will... disappear.

 

She isn't new to the concept of liking other girls. In fact, Mina thought she was in love with a senior who offered to show her where her homeroom was in freshman year. And she's no stranger to whatever confusing thing Jeongyeon and Momo have between them - they're not quite dating, but not quite friends either.

 

_("We confide in each other," Momo shrugs, "And sometimes it ends up in kissing.")_

"Come on," Mina urges, pulling Jihyo towards the next queue she can see, this time for some Viking ship ride that'll definitely make her head spin. She's made it her personal mission to ride everything in this amusement park by the end of the day, and it may or may not include Jihyo. She'll figure that one out later.

 

-

 

They make it into the haunted house before the next thunderstorm comes, Chaeyoung shrieking a little when thunder crashes through the air. Tzuyu laughs and leads her in, only screaming a little when someone dressed as a ghost bounds forward to yell in Tzuyu's face that she and her little friend are about to enter a world of hurt.

  
And really, Chaeyoung does try to be brave. She makes a joke about the clothing choice of one of the hundreds of scary blood-drenched dolls lining a room, cooing sympathetically about how that time of the month really sucks. She even pretends to want to hop into the coffin sitting in the middle of another room. Tzuyu plays along with a knowing look in her eye, one that reminds Chaeyoung of a panther awaiting the perfect time to strike.

 

And it does come -- a freakish Frankenstein-esque monster chuckles throatily in Chaeyoung's ear before running a slimy hand across her shoe, and that's where Chaeyoung has had enough.

 

"Let's go," Chaeyoung yells, screaming when the same monster touches her again. "Tzuyu! Seriously! We gotta go! Like right now!"

 

"You are so cute," Tzuyu chuckles, laughing again when Chaeyoung squeaks into her shoulder. Tzuyu leads the way through the next room, breaking into one of her famed sprints with Chaeyoung in tow when Chaeyoung shrieks bloody murder and that she's _going to beat you up when I get out of here, seriously, how did you rope me into this_?

 

Brushing through the white curtains blocking the exit, Chaeyoung lets out a long sigh of relief, leaning weakly against Tzuyu as they slow down to head out. Some actors howl in the walls, sending shivers down Chaeyoung's spine, and the small girl kicks out against the wall. This behaviour only encourages the scare actors, and soon Tzuyu is doubled over laughing.

 

"You were so cute in there!" Tzuyu exclaims, a departure from her usual monotonous tone.

 

"Tzuyu," Chaeyoung whines, because it's still dark and they're not out yet and Chaeyoung is still on the lookout for anyone who might want to scream in their faces. "Not funny."

 

"I liked it, though," wheezes the taller girl, "That was great."

 

"I like you," Chaeyoung blurts out.

 

They stop just before the exit of the haunted house, still shrouded in darkness, Tzuyu staring Chaeyoung straight in the eyes. And it must be something in the air or the fear from the haunted house that's addling her, but Tzuyu nods seriously in response, "Me too."

 

"Nice," Chaeyoung gasps, and Tzuyu kisses her sweetly.

 

-

 

"Reload," Jeongyeon urges, then screams and begins firing her weapon indiscriminately when the next wave of monsters appears onscreen. "Momo, _reload!_ "  


"How?!" Momo shrieks, clicking every button on the plastic weapon available. Jeongyeon alternates between shrieking back and killing the barrage of monsters onscreen, muttering something about having to do everything around here as she does so.

 

"Here," Jeongyeon cocks Momo's plastic pistol for her. "There. Now back me up, I'm gonna die."

 

Momo examines Jeongyeon appreciatively as their onscreen characters make their way through the haunted dungeon, appraising Jeongyeon's side profile as Jeongyeon stares hard at the screen.

 

"You're pretty," Momo purrs, a hand on Jeongyeon's thigh. It's Jeongyeon's favourite thing, but it seems like Momo's half-fledged seduction tactics won't work. Which sucks, because it's rainy, Jeongyeon's favourite type of weather, too, and only God knows how many overcast days they've spent wrapped in bed together.

 

"We aren't Sana and Nayeon," Jeongyeon replies, with a look that says _Not here_ , and elbows Momo as a horde of zombies shuffles towards them. "Less talk of banging, more bang bang."

 

-

 

They gather back around mid-afternoon for the second thunderstorm, this time very different from how were they in the morning. Nayeon and Sana are noticeably chilly with each other, the younger girl opting to drown her sorrows in more churros and spending her money on little trinkets that she stares at wistfully before buying. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, meanwhile, are stuck to each other's sides, confirming everyone's suspicions.

 

(Later on, Tzuyu will splutter indignantly when even Mina confirms that they all knew about their crushes on each other before Chaeyoung even said anything. This will be followed by Tzuyu realizing that her unnies really do know more than they let on.)

 

At Mina and Dahyun's encouragement (Dahyun's been out of the running for most of the day, cheering on the other girls as they rode increasingly wilder rides), Jihyo ends up giving an impromptu speech.

 

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming down today," she shouts over the sound of the rain and the chatter of the rest of the amusement park visitors, who seem very puzzled by why this huge group of girls is stopping in the middle of nowhere to listen to one of them make a speech. "And for making this outing a success! I hope we're all having fun!"

 

The rest of the council shouts out appreciatively, and Jihyo smiles, feeling very contented with herself. Dahyun slings her arm over her shoulder and finger-guns her, and Jihyo takes it as affirmation.

 

Momo's hair is messier than usual when she and Jeongyeon show up to dinner - they've all decided to have dinner before watching the fireworks display, and end up heading to a joint within the park that sells burgers and fries and shakes, typical greasy foodfare. It's a mediocre dinner, but it's made better with the promise of going on the ferris wheel and watching the fireworks later in the night, and Jihyo is feeling comfortably sated when they're done.

  
She looks over to one of the two their group has split into, and smiles. Jeongyeon and Momo have teamed up to give Chaeyoung and Tzuyu hard noogies as congratulations. Chaeyoung is squealing and trying to wriggle out of her seat, gripping on to Tzuyu like a lifeline, and the younger girl looks absolutely disgusted.

 

She looks back to her own table. Nayeon is sleepy and falling asleep on Mina. Dahyun is ordering what looks like everything on the menu, egged on by Sana promising to buy her food and repeated double-dog dares for Dahyun to eat as much as she can. Jihyo doubts it'll end well, but some mistakes have to be made.

 

"Thanks for suggesting this," she whispers to Mina, the other girl's flustered 'you're welcome' muffled by the fries in her mouth. "I would never have thought of it."

 

Mina shrugs, swallowing the food. "No problem."

 

"Maybe we should go out together, too?" Jihyo suggests, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible as she steals a sip of Nayeon's milkshake. _Play it cool, play it cool, play it cool_ , was what Jeongyeon had advised her. "Like, just the two of us. Only if you want to, though."

 

With widening eyes, Mina nods. "I'd love to."

-

 

"So," Tzuyu starts experimentally, fingers of her right hand pressed against the door of the ferris wheel carriage, "I'm really sorry for kissing you so unceremoniously just now and not waiting for the ferris wheel."

 

"You should be sorry," Chaeyoung shoots back half-heartedly, a stupid smile working itself over her lips when she looks away.

 

She's been in a ridiculously good mood for what's seemed like hours - when Momo spilled half a cup of water on her lap, she'd just thrown her arms around the older girl and dramatically forgiven her. Because there's nothing wrong in the world! She's here, and Tzuyu's here and Tzuyu kissed her in a dark haunted house which was _not_ where Chaeyoung thought her first kiss would be, but she likes it. She likes that Tzuyu took the initiative, and that Tzuyu is holding her hand and Tzuyu likes her back--

 

Holy shit. Tzuyu likes her back. The little Disney bird that was singing in Chaeyoung's ribcage breaks free.

 

"I forgive you," she says quickly. "But only if you promise not tell anyone that we first kissed when I was on the brink of tears and only tell them the really romantic ferris wheel story."

 

"Deal," Tzuyu smirks, leaning in again.

 

-

 

"They kissed," Sana reports, Dahyun perched on her back and trying to peer through the binocular app on Sana's phone, swaying the entire carriage precariously, "I repeat, they kissed."

 

"Disgusting," Nayeon sniffs, pressed up against the window opposite Sana, " _I_ had my first kiss on a softball pitch."

 

"And it was with me," Sana supplies helpfully, and they beam at each other like two idiots in love. Because, despite everything that's gone on today and the fact that Sana knows that there's a whole of stuff Nayeon has yet to tell her, that's what they are. Two idiots in love.


	3. FFW

_Sana checks the time anxiously, hopping from foot to foot. It's twelve minutes past noon, which means Nayeon should be coming over any second from the west wing, because she has study hall there, and always sits there on her phone, trying to work through her homework before she gives up and goes to find Sana. It's a dependable pattern that they've established, even if they're still fumbling eighth graders and not sure about any other facet of their lives or their relationship._

_Where_ is _she? Sana nibbles on her lip -- practice starts soon, and she doesn't want to go off without Nayeon. But it looks like she'll have to for today. She sighs and turns, trudging towards the pitch, texting Nayeon a hasty_ where are you _text, adding a pouting selfie for emphasis._

_(She doesn't know this now, but years ahead, the bleached bangs she's sporting are going to be very regretted and not at all trendy by high schooler Sana's standards.)_

_Her teammates are already doing warmups, and Sana speeds up anxiously, breaking into a jog, not wanting to miss out. Their coach is notorious for making them do sliding drills, an extra five for every minute that they're late to practice. Sana ended up having to do fifty in a row the other day, after Nayeon convinced her to sneak off to walk around campus. She even got to hold Nayeon's hand (that was sweaty and clammy and cold against her own, but look, it's the thought that counts), which she personally considers a worthy tradeoff._

_"Sana!" Nayeon shouts from behind her, and Sana sneaks a quick look behind her. Nayeon is running towards her, arms outstretched and her bangs are flopping in her face and Sana honestly, really should get her ass to practice or risk being benched the entire of next week's game, but she takes one look at Nayeon and she can't help it, she really can't._

_She's not even sure what she wants to do, she thinks as she hurtles towards Nayeon. Nayeon has a goofy smile on and she looks as if she's going to leap at Sana. Which would be a good plan, if not for the fact that it rained heavily last night and it's slippery and Nayeon goes down, hard._

_Nayeon picks herself up a moment later, nose bloody but still grinning, even though tears are brimming in her eyes from the pain._

_"Sana," she whines, "Sorry I was late."_

_"It's okay, Nayeonnie," Sana says, because what else can she say? She squats down by Nayeon as her girlfriend sits her, staring incredulously at Nayeon, who somehow manages to continue smiling through the pain._

_"I just wanted to say-- good luck for practice! I'll be here to cheer you on next week," Nayeon promises, linking their pinkies together, and Sana wonders when she got so sensitive, because Nayeon's touch feels like fire on her skin._  
  


_Nayeon gives her a half-lidded smile, eyes running down every feature of Sana's face. Then she kisses Sana, a wet and messy kiss that's more Nayeon puckering her lips and slobbering all over Sana, but at this point Sana is so starved and hormonal that it feels like heaven._

-

 

"Stop, you're making me sound embarrassing," Nayeon complains, whacking the top of Sana's head gently with a rolled-up (completed) calculus worksheet. Sana just giggles in response, curled up into Nayeon's side as the older girl sorts through the stacks of cash in the council treasury. "That is _not_ how our first kiss went."

 

"Oh, really?" Sana goads, nuzzling into Nayeon's neck, "I don't remember an alternate reality."

 

"First off," Nayeon raises a finger, "I did not have bangs."

 

"Did too. You looked a mess at middle school graduation, you know?" Sana says fondly, "I can't believe you cried."

 

"I thought we'd have to start a long distance relationship," Nayeon protests, taping together a roll of coins. Her bony elbow accidentally digs into Sana's side, but the younger girl doesn't mind, simply taking it as a cue to snuggle even closer. It looks uncomfortable from the outside, but no one's watching, so. "Jeong told me you were going to a special high school-"  
  
"There's a total of _one_ high school in this town," Sana sighs, "How did you even believe her?"

 

Nayeon sticks her tongue out in response, and Sana snorts. "You are such a _kid_."

 

"But I'm _your_ kid," Nayeon insists, then appears to rethink what she just said. Her face falls accordingly, "That sounded weird." She kisses Sana sweetly to make up for it, so Sana doesn't mind as much.

 

"Nayeonnie," Sana starts, a moment later because she can never be patient enough to let things stay as they are, "Are you happy?"

 

Sana turns to face Nayeon, and their noses are rubbing and Nayeon's fingers are digging into her waist and Sana wants to obey her basal instincts and just lean in, but she holds steady, furrowing her eyebrows. She shifts her leg to bracket Nayeon's thigh gently, humming.

 

"I..." The look in Nayeon's eyes is faraway. She's never been too good at talking about serious things, whether they may be her jealousy issues from freshman year or the apparently serious lack of chocolate milk in Sana's bedroom. (Sana keeps a drawer of chocolate milk for this reason.) She evades and barricades herself whenever there's things to be discussed, and it conflicts with Sana's more straightforward attitude.

 

"I don't know," the older girl admits, and Sana relaxes against her. She's glad Nayeon's telling the truth, that she feels safe enough to let down her guard. She knows that it would happen, of course, but sometimes she doubts how important she is to Nayeon and how dear Nayeon holds her, so it's good to be reminded.

 

"Wanna talk about it?"

 

"Not really. It's nothing, I promise," Nayeon murmurs, pressing a quick kiss to Sana's forehead. Sana squirms from the attention, but it's not enough, the way Nayeon weaves in and out of the queston. "College apps. Quitting the photography club. AP classes. I didn't want to bother you, and I'm sorry if I'm been a little snippy."

 

Sana's managed to mouth all the way to Nayeon's collarbones in the time her girlfriend was talking, and she hums again, against her throat, nipping gently. Their hands are still intertwined, and Sana relishes this feeling, more than anything else in this world. "Anything I can do to help?"

 

Nayeon fixates her with _that_ look, and Sana feels her knees turn to jelly.

 

"Oh, I can think of some things." __  
  


-

With four months under their belts as student council, they've gotten a lot more confident about their positions, with no more doubt when people ask 'what they actually do'. They've all come to learn and realize that they're setting the precedent for future student governments, and that this means that they can do whatever they think is right.

 

Which is pretty sweet.

 

The winter formal is the second event of the planned four that the council is planning, and so Jihyo shows up with glittery marker pens and corrugated board one day, with some fairy lights thrown in for a good measure.

 

They find themselves sitting at the now-infamous L-shaped table, poring over suitably wintry themes to translate into signs. Chaeyoung is already working her magic, drawing a bunch of snowflakes and snowmen onto a sign to welcome the school population to the dance, but the others need a little more inspiration.

 

"Let's hire a snowman," Dahyun suggests, and when no one responds, huffs. "What? It's a good idea, and it fits with the theme."

 

"Or we could build one indoors!" Momo chirps.

 

"And flood the gym with snow while we're at it," Tzuyu deadpans, facepalming when Dahyun and Momo cheer at the Very Intelligent contribution. She gives Chaeyoung a long-suffering look, but the other girl is too wrapped up in drawing to look at Tzuyu. Tzuyu huffs and sits back in her seat. No one appreciates her wit around here.

 

"We can get started on ticket sales," Mina suggests, and Jihyo nods gratefully, smiling at her. Mina gives her a shy smile back, and Jihyo pretends she doesn't hear Jeongyeon make kissy sounds.

 

(Yes, it might have been a mistake to confide her crush on Mina to Jeongyeon, who almost definitely is talking to Momo about Mina's own feelings for Jihyo, but Jihyo was desperate, alright? And Jeongyeon is a surprisingly good conversationalist, much better than Nayeon who had answered with a blank "that's nice, dear".)

  
The rest of the meeting is surprisingly fruitful, with even the jokesters of their council tamping it down and giving valuable ideas, and by the end of it Jihyo has a good feeling that this will definitely make up for the bake sale.

 

-

 

At approximately three-thirty, Jeongyeon and Momo saunter into the council room with bags upon bags of takeout, which look a little excessive for the two of them alone until Jeongyeon reveals with a flourish, "We got everyone food from that new Thai place!"

 

"Amazing," Chaeyoung simpers, pretending to wipe away a tear. "Our vice president has a heart!" She thanks Jeongyeon and Momo properly when Momo pouts, though, and Momo smiles victoriously because her pouts have proven to be very effective in changing people's minds about being mean. Just last week she convinced Nayeon not to embark on a smear campaign against some guy who smacked Sana's ass in the hallways. (Momo dealt with that. On her own terms.)

 

The week before that she pouted her way out of Tzuyu getting the last Keurig pod. Momo's still celebrating that.

 

Jihyo mobilizes Mina to help her out with distributing the food - Jeongyeon and Momo have gotten individual packets of pad thai and khao pad for all of them, and a few large bowls of tom yum soup to share. There's a bag dedicated specially to fortune cookies, and Jihyo lets out an audible sigh when about fifty of them tumble onto the table.

 

"How... fortunate?" Momo suggests helpfully, to which Mina rolls her eyes.

  
The chatter around the table dies down when everyone starts tucking in, save for Nayeon, who's still working on the display board they'll be putting up at the photobooth at the dance in the corner of the room. She grunts when called, and Jeongyeon settles for telling her to get her food before Momo eats it.

 

For the most part, it's quiet for the next ten minutes, the food a welcome distraction from the amount of work they have to finish up in the next few days.

 

Tzuyu shakes her head when Chaeyoung offers her some fried rice, "I don't eat rice."

 

Gasps all around. Chaeyoung gapes at Tzuyu, never before feeling so slighted. How is she going to explain this to her parents? And she already had their entire future planned out, which definitely _had_ included rice. This throws a wrench into all of that. "We've been dating for four months and you tell me this now?"

  
The younger girl shrugs defensively, "We've always had instant noodles on dates. I thought you knew."

 

"I thought you were being thrifty and saving up for our future," Chaeyoung croaks, "Our four kids. The frogs. The one-eyed dogs!"

 

Tzuyu laughs fondly as Chaeyoung slumps into her seat with a hand on her forehead, bemoaning all the changes she'll have to make to her retirement plan with this new turn in events. Dahyun pretends to gag throughout this entire exchange - Chaeyoung and Tzuyu are sickeningly sweet, or as sweet as someone can be to Chaeyoung, as all new couples are.

 

_("Ten thousand won says that Chaeyoung will have written a song about Tzuyu by the end of January."_

_"February," Nayeon insists from her spot in Sana's lap."They're taking it slow. I can tell."_

_"I'll hold you to that," Dahyun promises, looking over Nayeon's shoulder. "Miss President? Any bets for our precious sophomore couple?"_

_"Come on," Jeongyeon calls out when Jihyo hesitates, "Betting isn't against school rules." She frowns. "Okay, maybe it is. But that's not the point."_

_Jihyo sighs, setting a box of lights on the floor._

_"Thirty thousand says that Chaeyoung will have the song written by January 5th, but not actually have the guts to present it to Tzuyu until March."_

_"Spicy," Dahyun crows. "Prepare to be proven wrong, fuckers- unnies.")_

 

"Another beautiful loss," Dahyun giggles, "Almost as beautiful as the time Nayeon lost the president position to a girl younger than her." An appreciative _ooh_ spreads through the room, with Chaeyoung crowing 'sick burn' and drumming her fists on the floor. (Chaeyoung might just never run out of energy, honestly.) There's a squeak of marker against board somewhere in the room.

 

"I didn't _lose_ the position to her, so quit it," Nayeon says quietly, breaking the reverie. She finishes taping the signs to her part of the board, smoothing her nail over the air bubbles, still not making eye contact with anyone in the room.

 

It's deadly silent, and all of them are positively writhing in discomfort -- most of all Jihyo, who looks as if she wants to dig a hole and throw herself inside. Dahyun's expression is still stuck in the middle of smugness at her joke and pure terror, which would be pretty comical if not for the situation.

 

Nayeon looks up from the board.

 

"I'm gonna go," and no one stops her when she gets up to leave.

 

The door closes. There's no slamming, just the soft thud of the door against the frame.

 

Sana stares after Nayeon for a moment before sighing, getting up as well. "I'm going to go after her."

 

The door closes again, and Chaeyoung offers weakly, "Roll tide."

 

"Fuck," Jeongyeon mutters, face in her hands. Jeongyeon usually has her shit together and her composure perfected, so this is pretty scary for all of them.

 

If there's anyone who knows Nayeon better than Sana, it'd be Jeongyeon. The two bicker plenty, but it's spurred by a deep-rooted mutual affection that isn't romantic, but is more than platonic. It's crazy stuff, everyone's decided, because both of them are enigmas that are too confusing to bother understanding.

 

"Fuck indeed," Dahyun whines into the fabric of her hoodie. Jihyo thinks she might be crying.

 

Jihyo rubs her hand down Dahyun's back soothingly. She can't blame Sana for this - she had no way of knowing. Nayeon is always joking around with the rest, about her inadequacy and whatnot, and the way she plays along makes it look like she doesn't mind. Jihyo curses herself for being so forgetful, so insensitive. "It's not your fault - we should've seen it coming."

 

-

 

"Nayeon," Sana calls out, reaching for the lightswitch on the wall. The photography club room is Nayeon's favourite place to be, the murals and prints on the wall (some of them produced by Nayeon herself) giving the whole place a very homey atmosphere. Nayeon started telling everyone that the council room was her favourite place after she quit the photography club to join council, but Sana knows better. There's something the room provides that the council room just can't.

 

Sana flicks the switch, bathing the room in light. Her eyes trace over the large equipment cabinet - it's open, the keys to the cabinet haphazardly littered near it. She knows better than to suspect theft, and turns to see Nayeon seated on a swivel chair, thumbing through a few shots on one of the cameras. Her girlfriend doesn't look up when the lights turn on, and Sana swallows.

 

"I fucked up," she says, approaching Nayeon. The older girl doesn't give any indication that she's listening. "I told Dahyun that she could--" Sana blinks hard, "That you'd be fine if she took a jab at you. Don't be mad at her. _Please_. It's my fault and I..." She hates how high and whiny she sounds, fists clenched by her side as Nayeon continues to stare at the camera.

 

With a thump, she sits on the floor in front of Nayeon. There's a glassy look in Nayeon's eyes that hurts Sana physically, and she hates it, hates how awful she feels, hates how awful _Nayeon_ feels.

 

"Sometimes I think joining the council was a mistake," Nayeon says quietly, after what feels like an eternity.

 

Sana props her head up on her hands, watching Nayeon play with the camera. She's beginning to suspect that it isn't even hers - Nayeon loves her camera and wouldn't dare bring it to school to be kept in the equipment cabinet, no matter how many locks it's behind. She doesn't ask whose it is.

 

"You do?"

 

Nayeon nods, still not looking up. "I mean, I come in here and everyone's telling me I'm incompetent, that I lost the president position to Jihyo, that oh, _Nayeon-unnie doesn't deserve to be in here_ , _she slept her way into council_."

 

"No one says that," Sana objects passionately.

 

"And I know it's a joke, but sometimes I think everyone might be right," Nayeon's voice cracks. "Sana, why did I do this to myself?"

 

She's there when Nayeon melts into her, the older girl burying her face into the crook of Sana's neck with a sob. Sana swallows hard as Nayeon cries, because it's a raw, splintering sound and she's only really heard it once. Twice, maybe, if you count the time some idiot quarterback broke Nayeon's favourite camera.

 

(Sana made him pay - both literally and figuratively.)

 

It's undignified and messy and Sana wishes the lights were off, because the possessive, protective part of her demands that no one but her should be privy to this sight, not even the light that washes over them. It's illogical and a strange notion to have, but she doesn't care. Not when Nayeon is like this. Not when it feels like this has been a long time coming.

 

"You're not," she soothes, rubbing soft circles into Nayeon's back, tracing shapes between her shoulderblades. Nayeon digs her fingers in Sana's waist, pressing into her, anchoring her home, and Sana feels weak. "I promise you you're not. We look up to you - all of us do, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fucking idiot and is going to get a harshly-worded talking to from me, okay?"

 

Nayeon sniffles, laughing hotly into Sana's collarbone. Her lips ghost past Sana's ear, "You are _so_ bad at sweet talk."

 

"And _you_ are such an ugly crier," Sana pouts, wiping away Nayeon's tears with her thumb. Nayeon is a mess, nose red and eyes swollen, but she's smiling in a way Sana hasn't seen in a while. She can see tension seeping out of Nayeon, and in a way, she's glad that it led up to this, that Nayeon got the stress out of her sooner rather than later. She's been going through too much lately, what with college applications and all, Sana thinks. "Please, _never_ do that again."

 

Nayeon smiles, revealing her teeth, "What? Cry?"

 

"I mean bottle everything up and not tell me until you melt down like this," Sana murmurs, nosing against Nayeon's cheek. Nayeon's fingers press a little harder against Sana, and Sana suddenly feels a lot more flustered than she was a moment ago.

 

That's a talent of Nayeon's, she thinks, the way Nayeon can rile her up with just soft touches like these. Either that, or Sana's libido is through the roof. It could be anything.

 

"I promise," Nayeon presses a kiss to Sana's lips. It's chaste, but Sana finds herself whining at the loss of contact when Nayeon pulls away. Nayeon rolls her eyes fondly, "Really, Sana?"

 

"What?" Sana whines defensively, a blush dusting her cheeks, "I'm a growing girl." She paws impatiently at the hem of Nayeon's skirt, giving Nayeon the best puppy eyes she can muster, and Nayeon laughs again, delicious and lilting and nowhere close to giving Sana what she wants. "Please, Nayeonnie?"

 

"In the club room too," Nayeon murmurs, voice dangerously low as she nips at Sana's bottom lip, "Daring. I like it." She settles on Sana's lap, kissing her again, and it's deeper this time, harder and Nayeon does that thing with her tongue that Sana really, _really_ likes. Sana whimpers happily.

 

"I like you," Sana breathes when they pull apart for air, hand clasping Nayeon's, the other hand pressed against Nayeon's neck. She feels clumsy, addled, as if she's not fully in control of herself, and she sees the same haze in Nayeon's eyes. She wants to laugh at how fast the situation turned, but it seems like Nayeon won't give her the time to. "A lot."

 

Nayeon squeezes her hand. "Me too, baby. Me too."

 

-

 

"What she said," Chaeyoung says experimentally, ready to backtrack if anything goes wrong. "Was it true?"

 

Jeongyeon nods. "She was administration's favourite to be council president, and we all know she would've won if she tried, right?" Chaeyoung nods. "But she gave the post to Jihyo, because she knows... she knows how much Jihyo wanted it. That's why her name wasn't on her ballot."

 

"Oh," Chaeyoung says. "I always thought it was because she was incompetent." She prays that Jeongyeon doesn't relay this thought to Nayeon - sometimes, Chaeyoung still feels like she knows nothing about Nayeon, despite having been in the same council for so long. Nayeon is mysterious at best, and intimidating at worst, and nothing Momo tells Chaeyoung otherwise is going to dissuade her from thinking so. It's just a fact that the eldest member of their council has a way about her that enables her to swing between being a massive joke and a frightening upperclassman.

 

Jeongyeon looks guilty. "Lots of us do."

 

-

 

"I'm not gay."

 

"Yes, you are," Momo sighs, arranging the decorative cups on the shelf. Another pair of ankle-biters had visited their outlet a while ago, and had managed to mess up even the cups on the highest shelf. Thinking about it aggravates Momo, so she's opting to blindly work and pretend the world is fine. "Minari, you don't have anything to worry about. Jihyo doesn't care, and neither will the rest of the council. You know that."

 

Momo leaves out the part where she says that Jihyo will probably be over the moon, because she's been pining for Mina for the last four months and Mina is being kind of infuriatingly oblivious. (Also, she's getting tired of comparing notes with Jeongyeon to know whether and Jihyo and Mina are on the same page or not. For the record: They are.)

 

Mina tries again, struggling against the fluttering feeling in her ribcage, "But I-"

 

Small hands grasp Mina's shoulders and shake her. Mina's reminded of the time Momo mistook her for her then-girlfriend Seulgi at a party in freshman year. (It had been a messy party in general, with Momo flirting her way into the upperclassman party for the both of them. She still has bad, bad memories of that night, most of them including a really _strange_ game of Twister.)

 

"Mina, you're fucking GAY."

 

A cup with jolly old St Nicholas' face bounces off Momo's head, and the older girl's grip loosens in favour of yelling out loud enough for their manager to shush them. Momo bends over to pick it up, rubbing her head and glaring sourly at Mina as if to say: _That was for emphasis._

 

Mina obstinately pushes out her tongue. Momo stacks the cup back into place, and faces Mina again, hands on her shoulders.

 

"Mina, I want you to repeat after me: _I am gay. It is fine to be gay._ "

 

"Noooo," Mina whines, pushing back against Momo. The older girl only raises her eyebrows, her grip on Mina's apron still strong. "Why?"

 

"So you can get it out of your system," Momo says, and Mina really, really doesn't want to admit it, but Momo is right. "OK, how about this: _I'm gay, and I will tell Park Jihyo how I feel about her at the winter ball._ " Momo pumps her fist and grins.

 

Mina pouts again, but Momo wags her finger. "Don't try that on me, sweetheart, that's _my_ thing."

 

Mina takes a deep breath. "I'm-"

 

"Hey?"

 

Jihyo half-hangs over the corner, eyes wide, "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

 

"Jihyo?" Everything comes rushing back to Mina in one fell swoop, and she shoves Momo away, giving the older girl an apologetic look. "Jihyo! How did you get in here?" Mina can feel her ears heat up from the embarrassment, and she desperately hopes that Jihyo didn't get the wrong idea from Momo and Mina being in such close proximity. She knows that they're just friends, right? God, that sounds pathetic.

 

Momo coughs, and Jihyo seems to remember why she's here, pulling a book from under her arm. "You left your Chemistry textbook in the council room," she explains, "And we have that test tomorrow so I thought you'd need it."

 

"I see," Mina croaks, "Thanks." She doesn't miss the way Jihyo's eyes run over her apron, or the way Momo makes some bad excuse to leave the backroom to leave the two of them alone, or the way Jihyo looks in this crop top of hers, and _oh God_ Mina can feel herself retracting back into her shell. She wonders how Nayeon and Sana, or Chaeyoung and Tzuyu ever got to the point of asking each other out. It must be some black magic type of crap.   
  
"I'll just set it down here," Jihyo says helpfully, to which Mina makes an inhuman noise.

 

Jihyo takes a seat on one of the boxes opposite where Mina's standing, and it's filled with expensive decorative cups that they need to sell and Jihyo really shouldn't be sitting there and Yongsun is probably going to fire Mina if she sees this, but she can't bring herself to care now. She wishes Momo was here, or that she wasn't so painfully _awkward_ around Jihyo.

 

"So," Mina starts, "Like this place?"

 

Jihyo laughs. "Hardly. Do you spend all your time here? I thought you were a barista."

 

Mina shakes her head, "Nah, I just stay back here with Momo and make sure the stock comes in on time. Sometimes I get to make drinks, though it's messy." She motions to the whipped cream stain on her apron. "I'm not very good at it."

 

"Well, would you look at that," Jihyo teases, "Myoui Mina not being good at something? A travesty, really." The way Jihyo's looking at her makes her feel comfortable, and Mina has never been very good at controlling what comes out of her mouth when she's comfortable.

 

(She blames Momo.)

 

"Jihyo?" Mina says boldly.

 

"Hm?" Jihyo's eyes are shining and she looks expectant, so Mina tells herself that she can't fuck this up, no matter what.

 

Mina takes a deep breath.

 

"I... I'm gay."

 

-

 

Jeongyeon, Momo and Sana are having their weekly meeting, this time without Sana because she's 'busy' at Nayeon's place. Something about needing to help Nayeon count coins, which was frankly the most pathetic excuse that's ever come out of Sana's mouth, and that's counting the time she flaked on their combined study session because 'Nayeon's fish's pet plant died and I really have to be there for her right now'.

  
It's fine though, because it's not something that gets to them much. Sana is devoted to her relationship, and so are they, if the only relationship is the fragmented friends-with-benefits thing they have going on.

 

If devotion is not talking about the fact that Jeongyeon is probably ignoring a whole host of issues that have popped up. If devotion is ignoring the fact that she doesn't want any part of this anymore, that she wants something different. If devotion counts as staying awake at night like a fucking cliche and thinking about how having Momo as a girlfriend would be... then yeah. She's as devoted as Sana is to Nayeon. Maybe even more.

 

Don't get her wrong, Momo is her best friend, and her favourite person to kiss, but she supposes that something went wrong in the ideation process, when they figuring out their feelings for each other. They got stuck somewhere between 'friendship' and 'relationship', decided that they didn't want any attachment despite being _so_ fucking attached to each other, and then went ahead with... this. It's been a year like this, and Jeongyeon honestly hates it.

 

Not the sex, of course -- the sex is great. It's the icky feelings that ruin all of it.

 

"I'm drawing you," Momo reports, squeezing the little mayo packet in her hands. Momo stopped by a Japanese family mart on her way to Jeongyeon's and picked up some stir-fry style instant noodles, and it looks good, if not for the fact that Momo is treating the mayo packet like a piping bag. She squirts a little on the top. "That's your hair."  
  
Jeongyeon appraises the sight for a few seconds before sniffing derisively, "Disgusting."

 

"Hey, that's you you're talking about," Momo warns, drawing two circles on the caricature of Jeongyeon on the noodles. "Haha, those are your boobs."

 

Jeongyeon wonders how she has feelings for this girl, then realizes that this is probably exactly why.

 

-

 

Chaeyoung finds Tzuyu in the council room at seven in the morning, and it's amazing, frankly, how Tzuyu had only responded to Chaeyoung's text of ' _where are you?_ ' with a curt ' _council room_ ' and a single selfie, because she's typing away at her laptop with an unparalleled fervour. Her girlfriend looks up with a smile tilting her lips when she sees Chaeyoung, but she quickly goes back to her work.

 

Chaeyoung takes a deep breath. "Tzuyu."

 

"Uh," Tzuyu holds a hand in the air, "Give me a moment, I just need to drag this..." She clicks on something and, satisfied, drops her hand, looking up at Chaeyoung. Even this early in the morning, she manages to look not-crusty, and Chaeyoung swears her eyes are gleaming in the inky darkness of the council room. "There. What is it?"

 

Chaeyoung suddenly feels very awkward and very small, standing in the middle of the council room with nothing but a sheet of paper in her hands and her guitar strapped to her back. For the first time, Tzuyu seems to notice the guitar, because her eyes light up in recognition.

 

"I, uh," Chaeyoung laughs edgily, "Oh, this is turning out pretty bad. I expected a little more from myself, like maybe I could be a little suave, and uh, I actually wanted to do this at the winter ball but Dahyun told me that maybe it'd be a bit too cold to sing then-"

 

"Chaeyoung," Tzuyu says, and all of Chaeyoung's nervousness dissipates into the wind. "You wanted to sing for me?"

 

Chaeyoung scratches the nape of her neck.

 

"Yeah."

 

"I'm all ears," Tzuyu says sweetly, and Chaeyoung melts, nodding a little too quickly.

 

(Nayeon and Jihyo look like they're about to have synchronized aneurysms when Tzuyu makes mention of what Chaeyoung had done later, and Chaeyoung only barely spares a thought as to why Dahyun is whooping and laughing. Dahyun's her friend, Chaeyoung reasons, she must be really happy for her and her relationship.)

 

-

  
The Winter Ball goes off without a hitch.

 

Alright, maybe there's a hitch here or there, but for the most part, it's enjoyable and the students manage to shake off much of the lethargy that comes with winter.

 

It starts off messy, of course, as is custom for events hosted by their council. Nayeon trips over a snowman decoration and accidentally disembowels it, leading to her asking Sana to stand on the spot with a carrot taped to her nose for an hour to make up for the destruction of the decoration. Jeongyeon nearly dies laughing, and Jihyo just sighs and reminds Nayeon to put it in the budget sheets.

 

Nayeon and Sana eventually end up making out on the dance floor and have to be pulled apart from each other by a chaperone, but it's nice, and respite from the tension that's plagued the couple for a few weeks. For the most part, they're just happy that everything's alright again. (Even if the sight of Sana rubbing herself all over Nayeon makes Mina swear off renting dresses for life.)

  
The punch bowl empties out faster than they anticipated, and Tzuyu sprints to the supermarket opposite to get more punch. She's panting and sweaty by the time she gets back, the sight of her gasping for air getting her more attention than she wants. Chaeyoung glares them all off, though that just diverts attention to 'Tzuyu's cute small friend'.

 

("Let me at them!" Chaeyoung hollers, huffing and pulling against Dahyun and Momo holding her back. "I am _not_ small! And I am _not_ her friend! I'll have everyonek know that Tzuyu and I are in a committed, _serious_ relationship!"

 

Chaeyoung's drowned out by the music.)

 

At a teacher's behest, they end up abandoning their council positions to let loose, since the show pretty runs itself after the beginning hiccups. All of them _do_ end up letting loose - some more than others.

 

To Jeongyeon and Momo's credit, they wait till all the administrative matters are sorted out before making out. It's messy and in the second cubicle of the east wing toilets, far away from the gymnasium, but it feels daring, nonetheless, as if they're doing something so forbidden and obscene that they have to hide away from everyone else.

 

In reality, the dubstep that Dahyun had mixed into the playlist just gives Jeongyeon a headache.

 

Dahyun sits at the DJ's podium the entire night, switching from abovementioned heavy dubstep to Christmas carols that leave the student body wheezing but exhilarated, encouraging Dahyun to keep going with the wild music choices. (A parent chaperone remarks that he'll never understand teenagers.) Dahyun _does_ keep going on, finding some new sense of purpose in making everyone feel like they've been dipped in ice water. That, and calling out couples in the room who are being too handsy with each other like some type of fucked-up lifeguard.

 

"Nayeon, Sana!" Dahyun's lips are brushing against the microphone, which is the only reason Nayeon is broken out of her reverie long enough to stare at the junior. "Keep bedroom stuff within the bedroom, please!"

 

"Wheein, Hyejin! Two steps back, please. No, not with each other."

 

"Namjoon, Jisoo, please. Some modesty would be appreciated."

 

It's brilliant, if only because Dahyun has a knack for this sort of thing - that is, making jokes that are funny but never make people feel bad about themselves. If you ignore the one that had triggered Nayeon's meltdown a week or so ago, but they've collectively decided to throw that out. Also because Dahyun had sent Nayeon a bouquet of flowers and a three-page apology note. Boy does that girl know how to apologize.

 

-

 

"Busy night, huh?" Mina laughs, taking a seat beside Jihyo on one of the many plastic chairs that Momo and Chaeyoung set up. There are other students sitting down, some of them chatting, some of them necking in a feverish, desperate way that is kind of weird. Jihyo is sitting too, doing neither of those, holding a cup of punch. Her bangs are sticking to her forehead from the sweat, and Mina takes a second to appreciate the sight in front of her. She still can't believe how pretty Jihyo is, sometimes.

 

Jihyo nods, taking a sip. "They're having fun," she points to where Chaeyoung and Tzuyu are dancing. Tzuyu seems to have wanted to slow dance, but Chaeyoung is in the middle of her personal rave, twirling Tzuyu so many times the younger girl looks positively terrified. Jihyo laughs. "I'm glad Tzuyu's so comfortable now."

 

"Well," Mina pauses, thinking of all the things she wants to tell Jihyo. It's a long, long list.

 

  1. _I might be a little gayer than I originally planned._
  2. _You're pretty. I like pretty girls, did you know that?_
  3. _Kiss me? Please?_



Resisting the urge to make like Jeongyeon and put her face in her hands, Mina gives Jihyo the most charming smile she has in her arsenal of smiles. (She hasn't missed the way Jihyo gets a little more starry-eyed when she smiles in a way that shows her gums, and has been practically abusing that knowledge.)   
  
She sticks out her hand, knees buckling when Jihyo takes it.

 

"Dance with me?"

 

-

 

"So let me get this straight," Jeongyeon sighs, "Mina came out to Jihyo in the backroom, even though it was common knowledge, and then she cried and Jihyo thought that was the big secret?"

 

Momo nods glumly, knocking her head against Jeongyeon's. She didn't believe it either, and had cheered and clapped when she came back to the backroom and Jihyo and Mina were hugging. The cheering and clapping stopped when Jihyo told Mina how brave she was to have told her that, and how Jihyo would be by her side no matter what. "And now Jihyo's going to be too afraid to ask Mina if Mina likes her because she'll be afraid of offending her."

 

"It's like they're cockblocking themselves," Jeongyeon mourns, "There's nothing saving them now."

 

"Actually," Sana calls from across the room, and Jeongyeon flips her off for eavesdropping, "There is. Valentine's Day."

 

"Valentine's Day," Jeongyeon and Momo gasp.


	4. kingdom come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> smut in this chapter. be warned

"Plans for winter break?" Chaeyoung asks seriously when they're sitting around the meeting table one day.

 

It's two days to winter break, and all of them are unwinding in one way or another. Nayeon is draped over Sana's lap comfortably, occupying another chair with the rest of her body as Sana strokes her hair. The softball captain's eyes are drooping, almost as much as Momo's, who's completely asleep. Jeongyeon is playing Tap Tap Revenge on her phone, cursing when she misses a particularly long note and breaks her combo. Mina's surreptitiously reading manga under the desk (Momo showed some to her at a particularly slow shift last week and now she's hooked, Jihyo and Dahyun are engaged in a particularly vicious game of footsies, and Tzuyu is, well, being Tzuyu and paying rapt attention to whatever Chaeyoung's saying with perfect posture.

  
Sana shrugs, not looking up. Chaeyoung wonders if she might be sleeptalking, because she can't see Sana's face and she's doing that rocking back-and-forth motion Chaeyoung's familiar with when she tries to stay awake in calculus. "Softball season's coming up. I'm probably going to be training the entire time."

 

"Same here," Tzuyu echoes. She already has bright neon yellow elastic tape from yesterday's training on her knee - Chaeyoung knows, because she nearly fainted at the sight of it. Tzuyu had reassured her that everyone else on the team does the same, that it isn't some death sentence. Chaeyoung remains unconvinced.

 

"I forgot you were some track prodigy," Jeongyeon muses, tapping the table with her index fingers. Her face is flushed, not unlike an Asian glow. "How does it feel like to live life so fast?"

 

"Uh, peachy."  
  
"Nerd," Jeongyeon accuses, flopping back on the table with the grace of a dead elephant.

 

"Are you drunk?" Dahyun asks, scrunching up her face.

 

"You wish, pipsqueak," Jeongyeon exhales, blowing a cloud of air that _reeks_ of alcohol into Dahyun's face.

 

"Aw, gross," the younger girl complains, scooting away from Jeongyeon, inadvertently crashing into Momo and waking the older girl up. "Where did you even get alcohol from?"

 

The vice president shrugs, eyes unfocused, "I have my ways."

 

"I'm so glad we get a break," Jihyo says from the other side of the table. "I'm going to spend the two weeks asleep in my bed, and not even think about the Valentine's Day event until winter break is over."

 

" _'Your'_ bed," Momo snorts, "Not to be confused with Mina's bed."

 

Jihyo and Mina simultaneously go red, and Momo smiles to herself, pleased.

 

-

 

It's six AM, and Sana is awake because she hates herself.

 

She groans and pitches (haha) herself out of bed, resisting the urge to go back to sleep. Would it make her happy? Yes. Will she get benched for the entire of practice and made to run an extra five rounds for being late, in addition to doing sliding drills? Yes. So - is it worth it?

 

Even Sana's sleep-deprived mind knows the answer to that.

 

She goes through the motions, pulling on her uniform and dumping her cap (one with a squirrel embroidered on it, courtesy of Chaeyoung who saw it in a thrift shop and thought it fit her), glove and cleats into a bag she picks off the pile in her room. She's too tired to think about which one is the most space-efficient, or for that matter, in what way she should pack her stuff to be space-efficient. A granola bar from the back of her locker serves as her breakfast, and she works her way through it sluggishly, almost dozing off before her mother raps her knuckles on the table and makes a comment about how Sana should really ask her coach to bring trainings about an hour back. There's a grain of truth to that, but Sana, once again, is exhausted.

 

Winter break has never been a true break for her, mainly because for as long as she can remember, it's been training season, with every single day being used up to train. It's a tough life, but she knows the rewards will be worth it. Dahyun and her actually made a bet - Dahyun will buy her one Big Gulp for every home run that Sana makes in her matches.

 

She gets ready to leave, ready to turn around and wave goodbye to her mother when there's a knock at the door. And she knew she was tired, but nowhere as this delivery guy, who undoubtedly had to get up at some ungodly hour to deliver--

 

"Flowers for Minatozaki Sana," the teenage boy mutters, eyes obscured by his hat. Sana's pretty sure he's one of Tzuyu's friends from track, because there are only so many teenagers in this town and his legs look enviously lean.

 

"That's me," she stutters out, signing where he asks her to and finally getting a proper look at the bouquet when he leaves her with it in her hands. It's an arrangement of deep red roses and bright yellow sunflowers, fresh and gorgeous, and Sana knows that there's only one person who'd know to send flowers at this time.

 

She finds the card attached to the bouquet, and her heart squeezes.

 

_Good luck for training! Love you :)_

_-NY_

 

-

 

"This is pretty cool," Momo says when they're all in the cinema. Nayeon and Sana are beside Jeongyeon, and Chaeyoung and Tzuyu have chosen to take the couple seat to the right of Momo, leaving Jeongyeon and Momo smack in the middle of the oldest couple in their group and the youngest. "It's like a triple date, guys."

 

She pretends not to feel Jeongyeon flinch against her when Momo makes mention of the two of them. It's not really a secret at this point, but it's not like they've broadcasted it for the whole world to hear. They just avoid talking about it - them - and pretend that everything's fine. Because that's worked so well for everyone else who's done the same.

 

"Chris Pratt used to be my ideal man," Chaeyoung sighs wistfully, holding up a hand to trace Chris Pratt's face as a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy 3 plays on-screen. Momo pats Tzuyu's forearm when the younger girl tenses up. "Then I met my ideal girl," and there comes the damage control. Tzuyu relaxes.

 

Honestly, Momo can't even remember how they got to talking about this outing - she and Jeongyeon had planned to illegally stream the movie, but then she'd made mention of it in the group chat and Dahyun reminded them to always watch legally in order to give credit where credit is due. Then Sana had said that she'd always wanted to watch it, and so did Chaeyoung, so here they are now, six of them in a row watching some cheesy romantic flick Momo saw a two star rating on Google for.

 

But it's never about the movie, is it?

 

Something's changed between the two of them, because they don't try to sneak off somewhere during this movie, not to get more snacks or to the bathrooms to make out. Momo doesn't initiate, and Jeongyeon doesn't follow, and Momo feels a certain chapter of her life draw to a close. Using the awkward yawn-shuffle, Jeongyeon puts her arm around Momo, Momo settling her warm hand on Jeongyeon's thigh in response, and they stay like that till the credits roll and Nayeon has to wake Sana up (she's so tired nowadays that Momo regrets asking her along instead of letting her rest). It's nice. Jeongyeon's nice.

 

Being with Jeongyeon would be nice, and Momo tells herself that it's time to stop running from the truth.

 

-

 

They've been moved out to the counter today, with Mina on cashier duty and Momo tasked to make the drinks. It's honestly not a good idea by Mina's standards, because Momo never washes her hands after handling the peppermint syrup (which Mina is pretty sure should be classed as a toxic substance because of how potent it is) and as a result, contaminates every consequent drink with the stuff. Not that Mina's any better, arguably - once the sheer volume of the blender made her scream, and since then she's been banned from operating it.

 

That's just one of the embarrassing secrets Momo knows about her, of course. Secrets that under no circumstances should get to Jihyo's ears, which Mina suspects will be very hard if she keeps leaving Momo and Jihyo together.

 

Jihyo's taken to coming to the Starbucks every single day after school to study, and she always leaves a nicer tip when it's Mina serving her. (Mina doesn't have the heart to tell her that the tip box goes straight into the till at the end of the day.) Mina, in turn, squiggles a smiley face beside Jihyo's name on her orders. She even doodled a mini-Jihyo once when business was slow, which led to Momo staring at the cup for a straight minute before she barked out a laugh.

 

Momo calls her whipped, but Mina suspects she might just be jealous. All of Momo's giggly comments about her love life (or lack thereof) seemed a lot less insightful when Mina found out about Momo's _own_ love life troubles.

 

Today Jihyo's on duty in the council room, so she's nowhere to be seen. Mina jumps when Momo nudges her, "What?"

 

"I can feel your sadness."

 

"I'm not sad."

 

"Oh, please," Momo sighs, wiping down the blender, "You deflate like a kicked balloon when Jihyo isn't here."

 

Mina gets baited. "It's 'kicked puppy', not 'kicked balloon."

 

"So you admit it."

 

"Well," Mina starts, and throws her hands in the air. "I messed up my chances a month ago, unnie."

 

"Not quite," Momo smiles, and whispers into Mina's ear.

 

 

-

 

Nayeon's filing receipts in the council room, Momo napping and Mina doing her homework when Jeongyeon throws the door (which squeaks more than it should - Nayeon makes a mental note to invest in a can of WD-40 soon), staggers in, and plonks herself squarely down in the seat opposite hers, dropping her plastic bottle of water on the table.

 

Jeongyeon makes a pained noise, and Nayeon raises her head to see what she imagines a broken woman must look like. Oddly enough, Jeongyeon in this state looks like Dahyun when she loses one of her bets to Nayeon.

 

Which, by the way, Nayeon is not at all remorseful about. The younger girl deserved it after rigging the Chaeyoung bet.

 

"Do I want to know what happened?"

 

"Jihyo's gonna kill me," Jeongyeon groans, squeezing her bottle tight in her fist. "I fucked up, Nabongs. I fucked up so bad."

 

Nayeon slots another receipt into the 'decorations' section of the folder. Apparently fairy lights cost a lot more than she thought. Inflation is a bitch. "You have a minute to explain before I lose interest."

 

Jeongeyon inhales deeply, "Okay, you know how everyone thinks I have a problem with authority because I keep falling asleep in class? Which I don't, by the way, it's just that I stay up really late and don't get enough sleep and end up falling asleep in class. It's not my fault calculus is so _boring_ -"

 

"Agreed," Nayeon says without looking up. "Go on."

 

"-and today my teacher, that's Miss Kim by the way, I think she teaches you too, she decides that I'm getting detention because I put my head down for a minute." Jeongyeon growls in irritation, "And that's not even the worst part."

 

"What could be worse than _detention_?" Nayeon coos, batting her eyelashes.

 

"She wants me taken off council."

 

"Oh, shit."

 

"Oh, shit indeed," Jeongyeon sighs, "Call Jihyo, she'll know how to fix this."

 

-

 

"I have no idea how to fix this."

 

"That's it. We're fucked," Nayeon sighs, "It was a good run while it lasted."

 

"Not funny," Jeongyeon sulks, glaring at Nayeon, "Jihyo, you're kidding, right? Because Miss Kim absolutely isn't. She is absolutely willing to dethrone me, starting tomorrow." She puts her head down and screams into the table.

 

Jihyo paces around the room, hand in her hair, "What are we going to do?" She looks to Nayeon and Jeongyeon, "Any contingency plans?"

 

"You were kind of our contingency plan," Jeongyeon confesses, and Jihyo massages her temples.

 

Nayeon hums thoughtfully, "Maybe Tzuyu can stare at Miss Kim until she agrees to let you go?"

 

"Can't. Tzuyu is jogging with Dahyun," Chaeyoung says as she enters the council room, tossing her backpack on the floor. She comes to sit beside Nayeon, and Jeongyeon notices that there's a streak of paint on her shirt, in true artist fashion, which may or may not have been put there more for show than out of clumsiness. She spares a moment from freaking out to roll her eyes at the younger girl's vanity. "Which in itself is pretty strange. Since when was Dahyun able to keep up with Tzuyu? Even Sana-unnie can't maintain more than a lap before she starts begging for mercy."

 

"Oh, hey," Jihyo says, furrowing her brows at the sight of Chaeyoung's shirt. "Do you want a change of clothes?"

 

"Oh yeah just give me a new shirt and get rid of this social statement."

 

"What?"

 

Chaeyoung leans on Nayeon's shoulder, muttering something about no one getting her, and Jeongyeon rolls her eyes again.

 

"Back to the point."

 

"Are you sure she meant it?" Jihyo asks worriedly. "Removing you from the council is a little harsh. Maybe she meant it as a joke or something? Like _Haha Jeongyeon, take that_?"

 

"She told me that my time with my 'little friends' was over. So no, not a joke."

 

"A revolt," Nayeon says.

 

"What?"

 

But Chaeyoung's catching on too, and the younger girl excitedly jumps out of her seat, running over to the whiteboard mounted on the wall. "We'll have to stage a revolt! We'll show her that if she wants one of us, she's going to get all of us."

  
Chaeyoung begins drawing fantastically convoluted diagrams on the board that look more like war strategies than a plan to save Jeongyeon from detention. Jeongyeon shuts up and listens anyway as Chaeyoung outlines the master plan, even splitting the rescue effort into three main phases for what she calls a 'three-pronged attack'. (Jeongyeon can see Jihyo resisting the urge to point out that that isn't a three-pronged attack.)

 

"You talk like you have a lot of experience with planning revolts," Nayeon says, impressed as the younger girl whizzes around the board.

 

"Oh, I don't," Chaeyoung dismisses, "But I have a girlfriend and best friend who do."

 

-

 

On any given day, fifty to seventy thousand thoughts run through a person's head, and Tzuyu is no exception. These thoughts are usually mundane things, like whether she'd remembered to pack longer socks because ankle socks, although fashionable, don't protect her when she's running long distance. One of these days, she's going to go up to her coach and tell her to her face that she hates running long distance more than anything in this world. Even more than hurdles, which have always scared Tzuyu because they're high and Tzuyu's always afraid of not being able to clear them.

 

And then there are the higher-order thoughts, like working through calculations and equations (Chemistry is Tzuyu's least favourite subject, no matter how much Mina talks about it to her) in class, or deciding relay strategies during practice, or thinking about how she's going to word her goodbye letters to the graduating members of the council. (She has four months to deliberate on that, but they're not getting any younger and time isn't passing any slower.) These are things that take up much more effort, but they're a necessary part of life, despite how much Tzuyu might revile them.

 

There are the nicer thoughts. Like what she should get Chaeyoung for their six month anniversary, a composition notebook or a box of chocolates? Everyone around Tzuyu has told her to get the composition notebook, but she's an old romantic at heart. Or what sort of color palette she should select for their publicity posters for their Valentine's Day event. She likes pastel colours, but Dahyun spent one afternoon talking to her about the intricacies of neon colours and she wants to show that she at least gave the idea a thought.

 

And then there are just general thoughts, things like since when did Sana look so serious during practice?

 

From what Tzuyu's seen of the softball team, Sana is perpetually goofing off, that same shit-eating grin that she brings to council meetings. It's weird, how she manages to be a star player and the captain while also acting like a fool. Tzuyu's gotten used to it, though, which makes this all the more startling, because she's pretty sure Sana hasn't laughed even _once_ during practice today.

 

Not that she would know. She makes it a point never to stare too long at the softball pitch, lest Sana detect her gaze and start waving and yelling frantically. That's happened only once, but it was enough for Tzuyu to swear off ever looking in that direction again. It's more of a peripheral thing anyway, noticing Sana.

 

"Everything good?" She asks, turning to Dahyun. She'd nearly forgotten the junior was there, only being reminded by a small puff of air next to her. Dahyun is remarkable, especially for someone who had told Tzuyu yesterday that she wanted to try out for the track team again.

 

Dahyun gives a thumbs-up, and Tzuyu nods. She thinks she hears one of their phones vibrate in their pockets, but ignores it. _Focus on the road ahead._

 

-

Dahyun's shirt is sticking to her back with sweat when she comes back around the track to see Tzuyu. She's positively panting - she can't remember the last time something knocked the wind out of her like this did. She'd almost forgotten how much effort running took.

 

She'd almost forgotten how much she loves it.

 

Tzuyu wordlessly moves to hand her a water bottle, and Dahyun shakes her head, panting with her hands on her knees for a few moments as Tzuyu leaves the bottle on the ground beside her. It affronts her that Tzuyu doesn't look nearly as winded as her, but she figures that she can only get better from here.

 

She ends up spilling half of the water on herself when she raises it to her lips, but the main point is that she looks _cool_ doing it, even if Tzuyu rolls her eyes at her dramatic lip-smacking. Every member of the track team looks cool drinking water, with maybe the exception of that freshman Jung Eunwoo who makes it a point to shake like a dog after every refreshing sip of water. _Most_ members of the track team look cool, which had been one of Dahyun's motivations for even coming back to the team in the first place. Another one being that she needed something other than council to spend her time - Sana and Tzuyu are always so busy with their co-curriculars, and Dahyun was feeling a bit left out.

 

And it's definitely a good change from moping around and feeling overwhelmed all the time. Dahyun smiles genuinely, gratefully at Tzuyu, and the younger girl sticks out her tongue before running off again.

 

-

 

_It's a year earlier, she's watching Jihyo be tripped up by their opponents, a foul move no one sees or talks about because they're playing in enemy territory. There are screams of joy when Jihyo doesn't make it back to base--_

Sana runs off the pitch, hot tears threatening to spill over. She's not sure where she's running, only that she needs to leave, she can't stay here, she has to go. She's not sure what set her off, but the championships are in a month and she's not up to speed yet and she can't be weak, not now, not here.

 

"Sana!" Eunbi shouts behind her, and Sana blocks it out.

 

_Sana gets ready for the next play, the heavy rain beating down on her shoulders as she grabs her bat. Her grip is loose, and she doesn't know what to think, only that she should've prepared for this. They were caught off guard, and Sana knows instinctively that this is entirely her fault._

She makes it all the way to the toilets before she starts crying. And then it's ugly tears, uncontrollable and silent and wracking through her entire body with a force so great that she thinks she might fall over. Because this is hell on her body, because her entire body hurts and aches and she's overexerted, but it's not enough.

 

 _She's not enough,_ and she thinks back to that bouquet of flowers, wonders how much she deserved it.

 

-

 

They're gathered in the council room again, Chaeyoung having briefed everyone in the room on what's going on and miraculously having gotten everyone on board with Mission: Protect Jeongyeon.

 

"You know her?" Jeongyeon splutters. It hadn't occurred to her that a calculus teacher could have positive emotions about _anything_. Seems fitting that it's Tzuyu, of all people.

 

Tzuyu shrugs, "Yeah, she takes me for pre-calc. She loves me."

  
Dahyun clears her throat obnoxiously, "May I add that Miss Kim loves me _too_ , despite my checkered history. Hell, she doesn't even know that I was the one who did the 'senior prank' two years ago." Dahyun cackles, and hears synchronized gasps from everyone else in the room, save for Chaeyoung and Tzuyu who have no idea what's going on.

 

"That was _you_?"

 

"Hell yeah it was," Dahyun grins.

 

"What was?" Chaeyoung asks.

 

The seniors in the room seem to sigh in tandem, and then Momo offers an explanation, "At the end of our sophomore year, someone released like... five chickens, marked 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6. It took administration half the day to realize that there wasn't a fifth chicken. They couldn't find the culprit, so they dismissed it as a stupid senior prank and warned them that if subsequent classes did it, they wouldn't be allowed to walk at graduation."

 

"Where did you even get the chickens?" Jeongyeon asks, baffled.

 

Dahyun shrugs. "A magician never reveals her secrets."

 

Suddenly Nayeon gets up, clutching her phone "I have to go," and this is so similar to what happened a while back that Dahyun instinctively freezes. "No, nothing's wrong, Dahyun, it's not you. I just. I gotta go." The oldest member of their council hurries out of the room, looking extremely worried as she does so, but Tzuyu is personally confident that the rescue effort will go on fine without her.

 

There's quiet for a while, and then Chaeyoung claps her hands, "Let the Games begin!"

 

-

 

**phase one: the defensive tactic**

The defensive part of their strategy is masterminded by none other than Mina, surprisingly, because Mina apparently has a lot of experience defending things.

 

( _"I wanted to be a lawyer when I was younger," Mina pouts, "And I was in the debate team for a year or so."_

_"Nerd."_ )

It goes like this: Tzuyu is to show up to pre-calc and begin defending Jeongyeon's sleeping habits, including a bit about how Jeongyeon stays up late on a regular basis to complete council work for the betterment of the school, leading to her inadvertently falling asleep in class. Dahyun will leave a message on Miss Kim's phone anonymously, using a voice masker to proclaim Jeongyeon's innocence.

 

Jeongyeon, meanwhile, will futilely defend her innocence to Miss Kim the next time she sees her, and also hand in all her homework on time, which Jeongyeon suspects is more of a ploy on Mina's part to get her to start doing her homework and not end up like Nayeon. For now, however, she's off the council, but Chaeyoung assures her that she's still their vice president, no matter what a hack calculus teacher says.

 

This plan is to be carried out across two days, after which they progress to phase two for another two days, the positively diabolical phase three occurring right after that. Jihyo wisely reminds them that they have the Valentine's Day event to plan in addition to rescuing Jeongyeon, before they forget. Because they would.

 

-

 

"My mom thinks I'm at an educational camp," Dahyun muses, rolling over in her sleeping bag just in time to see Tzuyu about to lean in to kiss Chaeyoung. "Oh yeah sure. Pretend I'm not here."

 

Chaeyoung shoves Tzuyu off her hurriedly, giving her girlfriend an apologetic look a moment later, "Right. Sorry. Gotta focus on the important things."   
  
Ironically, Chaeyoung had suggested the sleepover, citing that all three of them really needed a session to unwind and bond, even if it was only a day after winter break ended. It's also an opportunity to start on the Valentine's Day event, something which Jihyo had applauded their efforts on.

 

The Valentine's Day event is one of the biggest events of the school year, next to only prom, which is a little weird because it's also one of the smallest-scale events. It's pretty lame too, given the fact that faculty had organized every single student event before realizing that they could shaft it to a student government. There's never anything more than a candygram exchange, and then the themed dressup contest that's always won by the genius who has the most elaborate Cupid dressup. (Dahyun is still bitter over Ha Sungwoon beating her that one year.)

 

Somehow, for how lame it is, it's still hyped up, and they're all determined to turn this hype to their favour and make this Valentine's event the best possible.

 

"Is that Jupiter?" Tzuyu asks, pointing. Chaeyoung has an entire glow-in-the-dark solar system pasted on her ceiling, which she'd forgotten about till Dahyun pointed it out when they first came in. She nearly died of embarrassment, but Tzuyu had assured her that they were very adorable and in-character.

 

Dahyun frowns, "That can't be, it's too small."

 

"It's Jupiter," Chaeyoung says, "The planets aren't built to scale, otherwise Saturn's rings would be like, fifty times the size of Earth."

 

"How do you know all of this?"

 

"I had a really long 'I-wanna-be-an-astronaut' phase," Chaeyoung sighs wistfully, "The day I found out about the minimum height was the worst day of my life."

 

-

 

 **Jeongyeon [12:30am]** : Can we talk

 **momo [12:32am]** : (´｡• ω •｡`) yeah what is itヽ(*⌒▽⌒*)ﾉ

                                 if this is about the detention crap i swear <(￣︶￣)> i'm going to spray paint dicks on the staffroom wall

 **Jeongyeon [12:43am]** : Yeah lol it's not I'm still arguing with Miss Kim over that

                                         Ok anyway

                                         I'm just saying this because I don't have the guts to say it IRL but

 **Jeongyeon [12:44am]** : I don't want to be your fuckbuddy anymore [ _unsent_ ]

 **Jeongyeon [12:44am]** : I like you [ _unsent_ ]

 **Jeongyeon [12:44am]** : Do you like me too or am I imagining shit again hahaha [ _unsent_ ]

 **Jeongyeon [12:44am]** : I'm sorry I'm too chickenshit to just say all of this [ _unsent_ ]

 **momo [12:45am]** : jeong?

                                 wassup

 **Jeongyeon [12:45am]** : Fuck I hate myself [ _unsent_ ]

 **Jeongyeon [12:46am]** : According to all known laws of aviation,

                                                                                                             there is no way a bee should be able to fly.

 

-

 

 **jihyo [12:47am]** : lame and gay

 **Jeongyeon [12:48am]** : Don't talk about yourself like that :'(

 **jihyo [12:48am]** : :c

 **Jeongyeon [12:49am]** : Nonono I'm sorry I was a fool

 

-

 

 **mina [12:50am]** : idk, i mean do you like her?

 **momo [12:51am]** : ...yeah. a lot.

 

-

 

 **sana [12:53am]** : i dont know it jsut feels like im not good enough and

                              whats the point of going on if i cant keep up or lead properly

 **nayeonnie <3 [12:54am]**: Sana

                                               Please stop saying that about yourself

                                               There's nothing wrong with you I promise

 **sana [12:55am]** : im sorry i jsut

                          can you come over? i knwo its late its okay if you cant

 **nayeonnie <3 [12:56am]**: Omw

 

-

 

"Are these for the candygrams?" Momo asks, shaking her head and popping one in her mouth when Jihyo nods. The council president is packaging the candygrams into little bags they got from a thrift store (another find courtesy of Tzuyu) and wrapping them up, in preparation for the Valentine's day event. She pulls a face. "They taste cheap."

  
"We got them wholesale," Jihyo grumbles, swatting Momo's hand away when the older girl makes a move to get another marshmallow. "No, don't. Mina ate five and then she ran off to the bathroom."

 

"That's because she's allergic to gelatin. Goddamnit Mina, when will you ever learn."

 

-

 

"It didn't work," Tzuyu groans, "Sorry, unnies. Miss Kim told me that if Jeongyeon were as hardworking as I said she was then she'd do her homework. You _have_ been doing your homework, haven't you unnie?"

 

"Of course," Jeongyeon defends herself, "I even did the supplementary exercises Miss Kim gives because she's crazy. _No one_ does them, except Dahyun." Another badly-kept secret of Jeongyeon's - that last month, she paid Dahyun to do her calculus homework for her. Dahyun is a speedy worker and ridiculously intelligent. Apparently, she skipped third grade. Who _does_ that, even?

 

"Ignoring that jab at me and my love of math, we move on to Phase Two," Dahyun announces.

 

-

 

**phase two: the offensive tactic**

"I prepared an entire slideshow on why Jeongyeon is the best person to grace this Earth," Jihyo announces, clicking start on her laptop to show the intro to what ultimately turns into a succession of seventy slides, each with around a hundred words on, in Jihyo's words, what makes Jeongyeon the best person in the world.

 

Suspiciously, it looks like it was recycled from the presentation Jihyo gave in fifth grade, when she had a crush on Jeongyeon. Those were great times. Jihyo tripped over herself and cried when she told Jeongyeon she liked her, and then they dated for like, a week before Jihyo told Jeongyeon that she'd found greener pastures. Greener pastures, of course, referred to Nayeon. Jihyo and Nayeon were together for a total of four days before Nayeon broke up with her on the basis that Jihyo never said 'I love you' when they were on the phone.

 

(And Nayeon and Jeongyeon - well, Jeongyeon prefers to block out that phase in second grade when the two of them crushed on each other and chose to express it by fighting daily. It was cute, but also tragic, and Jeongyeon doubts that it'd turn out any differently if it happened today.)

 

Jihyo clicks to a slide with a photo Jeongyeon is positive is from her embarrassing family photo album only Jihyo and Nayeon have seen, and she screeches. "Park Jihyo!"

 

"A fedora," Chaeyoung whistles, "Very dapper."

 

Jihyo only smirks before moving on to the next slide, an equally horrible slide of Jeongyeon's infamous 2011 Halloween costume, the one where she dressed up as a toilet paper mummy and fell into a pond ten minutes after stepping out of the house. She had cried the whole way back home, but she's forced to appreciate the humour in it as the rest of the council explodes into racuous laughter.

 

"Cheer up," Momo nudges her, watching the corner of Jeongyeon's lip flicker upwards the barest amount, "At least you weren't talked into being a sexy baby by your older sister like I was."

 

-

 

On the list of things Mina thought she'd be doing when she campaigned for student council, this ranks in the hundreds. Work towards the betterment of the student population? Yes, definitely. Make new friends and come out of her shell? Check. Have a spanking college application? Pretty much.

 

Google shitty pickup lines for candygram cards with Jihyo blushing every time she reads one out? Not so much.

 

"Are you Harambe's enclosure? Because I'd drop a kid inside you." Mina frowns, feeling like she's missing something. "What does that even mean?"

 

Jihyo has gone completely red, and Dahyun and Chaeyoung are dying of laughter in the corner, with Dahyun actually going totally quiet because she can't breathe from laughing so hard at one point. Mina decides that she better move on, and looks back at her phone screen, where she has _pickup-lines.net_ loaded.

 

"Your body is 75% water, and I'm thirsty. Oh, a biology joke. How do you think about that?" Mina silently applauds herself for not stammering.

 

"Uh, good," Jihyo replies, scribbling it on another candygram. "Keep going, Mina."

 

-

 

"Miss Kim! Funny seeing you here," Nayeon beams, cornering the calculus teacher as she leaves her staffroom.

 

The woman in question sighs, no doubt remembering having her for pre-calc in sophomore year, "Nayeon. What is it?"

 

"I heard about what happened with Jeongyeon," Nayeon starts, "and believe me, I'm a huge advocate of punishing those who fu- mess up, but don't you think it's a little harsh?"

 

"Not this again," Miss Kim sighs, "No. My decision on this is final. It's just a one-week probation from council for her, so I have no idea why everyone's so worked up about it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the student president to attend."

 

Nayeon's smile freezes, and not for the first time, she wonders if Jeongyeon was asleep while Miss Kim was talking to her. "Yeah, of course, sorry. Oh, and Miss Kim?"

 

"Yes?"

 

"I'd advise you to stay away from that meeting."

 

-

 

 **Nayeon [6:26pm]** : She meant a WEEK's probation

 **jeongyeon [6:27pm]** : Oh

                                      That does make more sense actually

 

-

 

**phase three: conclusion**

 

With the entire "save Jeongyeon" plan aborted and Jihyo being upset over Miss Kim snubbing her at the meeting once she saw Jihyo's slides (Dahyun assures the president that she'll be able to present it some other time), they have time to work on the Valentine's Day event. Sana and Dahyun reveal that they're planning a ballad-singing talent competition for the day itself, and have contacted the relevant authorities to get clearance for the competition. This, of course, leads Chaeyoung to mutter something about Jihyo's untapped singing skills, which raises a few heads till Jihyo insists that it's nothing.

 

It's a pleasant existence, reclining in one of the two beanbags in the corner of the room, watching the girls Momo's come to regard as family work smoothly and without interruption.

 

Sana is off training, having offered a profuse set of apologies on how she'd make up for it in the future before dashing off for training. Nayeon and Jeongyeon are bickering in the corner over what shade of red the backdrop for the Valentine's photobooth should be, red or pink, with Jihyo in between them trying to find a shade somewhere in the middle. Mina and Dahyun are tallying the candygram orders from the Google form Dahyun sent out last night (they later report that nearly half the school has placed orders, with at least thirty orders for Tzuyu placed by various members of the football team). Chaeyoung and Tzuyu are off in the foyer to promote the event, encouraging students to place more candygram orders (Sana may or may not have ordered a lot of the stuff).

 

"Momo," Nayeon calls, wrestling with a length of salmon cloth, "Which looks better? This or the weird thing in Jeongyeon's hands?"

 

"This was my mother's prom dress!"

 

"Send my condolences to her!"

 

Jihyo makes exasperated eye contact with Momo, and she shrugs, as if to say, _You befriended them._

 

-

 

Jeongyeon comes over later when they finally make the decision on the colour of the photobooth (Nayeon won, and Jeongyeon admits that she'd objected to Nayeon's choice on principle instead of her choice being actually ugly), Jihyo and Nayeon having left to go set it up, Dahyun and Tzuyu leaving for practice and Mina and Chaeyoung going to support them. Leaving the two of them alone.

 

"Can you believe that we're graduating soon?" Jeongyeon muses, knowing that Momo's listening even as the other girl arranges the basket of candygrams to look presentable. Jeongyeon's voice is low, almost conspiratorial between the two of them. "It feels like we were freshmen five minutes ago."   


"I know what you mean," Momo replies, stretching lazily in her seat as she eyes the basket. "Also five minutes ago when we decided that we were gonna sleep together and never talk about our feelings, huh?"

 

It's so out of the blue that Jeongyeon is startled, but then she realizes that it's happening. The truth is that no amount of prepping or coaching from Jihyo could've prepared her for this, because it's different. No ceremony, no dramatic ferris wheel kiss, no whispered confession. No one is here to see it, and in hindsight, it's exactly _them._

 

"Yeah," she stammers.

 

Momo smiles at how flustered she is, and Jeongyeon smiles back, heart warm.

 

"Talking is for losers," Momo murmurs, leaning in to kiss her. Their teeth click, and Jeongyeon sees the slightest hint of a smirk on Momo's lips, wondering when she got so shy. "But do you want to talk?"

 

"Yeah. I-I mean, I do. Really," Jeongyeon sighs into her mouth, kissing back. Momo's hands are back on her thigh, warm and pressing into them and a little ticklish but it's okay, Jeongyeon doesn't mind. "There's a lot I want to tell you."

 

Momo laughs, showing teeth. "That's funny. Me too," and Jeongyeon knows that they'll be alright.

 

-

 

Sana's lungs feel like they're stretchier than usual today, maybe even as large as what she imagines Tzuyu's to be like. The sun is shining into her eyes and she has to shield them when she shouts for the ball, but she doesn't mind, because the sun's shining and that's all that matters. The big game is on Monday night, and it should be scaring her, with only the weekend to go before it's go time, but Sana finds herself calmer than usual, more measured. She's had enough of running from her problems.

 

She looks to the bleachers, to where Tzuyu, Dahyun and Nayeon are sitting. They whispered the entire time it was Sana's turn to bat, hopefully discussing how excellent her playing strategy was. Either that, or Tzuyu was explaining the rules of softball to Dahyun, judging from Dahyun's generally puzzled expression.

                                                                                

Nayeon shoots her a thumbs-up, and Sana grins stupidly, almost missing the ball when it comes directly at her face.

 

-

 

Monday comes, and so does the Valentine's event. The dressup section is woefully cheesy, with over half of the council (the senior portion of the council, to be exact) coming in the exact same getup of a red shirt and a crown of hearts, like that Photobooth filter. Apparently, the entire senior class had planned to do so, which an exercise in unity that wows the rest of the school.

 

Jihyo comes as Cupid, which really, is an angel costume. (Mina blushes hard at how low-cut the white top is.) Dahyun does the same, with the exception of bringing a toy bow (she'd almost convinced Sowon from the archery club to lend her a bow before Chaeyoung talked her out of it, citing reckless endangerment as one of the many reasons as to why she should _not_ lend Dahyun a dangerous weapon) to go along with her outfit.

 

They get excused from class to hand out candygrams. Jeongyeon laughs point-blank at Chaeyoung's heart-eye sunglasses when she sees her, begging her to lend them to her because ' _holy shit Chaeng, this is the swaggiest thing'._ Chaeyoung refuses accordingly.

 

-

 

"Weird," Dahyun shows Mina the tag of a candygram she'd prepared, "This one's for you. _Mina, you are hotter than the bottom of my laptop_." Dahyun raises her eyebrows, smirking "Looks like someone's into you. They even told us not to deliver it for them, so looks like you'll be getting a personal delivery."

 

"It's probably one of those football players," Mina grumbles, passing another candygram to a particularly excited Kang Seulgi. (The message on the candygram - not that Mina had looked - was from a _Bae Joohyun_ , coincidentally filthy enough to spark memories to an equally disgusting one that Son Seungwan had sent Seulgi. Mina had wanted to wash her eyes out with soap.) "I got like, five of them last year before they moved on to Tzuyu."

 

"Gross," Dahyun says.

 

"Mhm. Hey, I didn't know that we had a no-delivery option."

 

Dahyun bursts out laughing, as if she knows something that Mina doesn't. "New feature."

 

-

 

Jihyo twists her fingers nervously, "I don't know if I should do this."

 

"Go," Chaeyoung cheers, pushing Jihyo gently towards the stage where Momo is enthusiastically hosting the talent show they'd been talking about all week. Funnily enough, only Chaeyoung and a select few others have heard Jihyo sing, Chaeyoung because she'd jokingly asked Jihyo to sing her to sleep once. Jihyo, in response, had opened her mouth and impromptu belted Kesha's _Praying_. As one does. "You can do it!"

 

"What do we have here?" Momo hollers into the mic. Dahyun is next to her onstage - the stage being a platform made of flattened cardbox that one of Tzuyu's contacts found - positively bouncing up and down. (Momo's only emceeing because they had to take the mic away from Dahyun.) "Give it up for our council president!"

 

The student population bursts into applause and screams, and Chaeyoung thinks she hears a _Marry me, Park Jihyo!_

She rolls her eyes. _Not if Mina beats you to it._

Speaking of Mina. She nudges the girl beside her, "What a work of art, huh?"

 

Mina only sighs, nodding as Jihyo takes the mic from Momo's hands and picks a song to sing. She ends up choosing _I Will Always Love You,_ and Mina sighs again, more dramatic this time as the music starts.

 

"What am I going to do, Chaeng?"

 

Because it's beautiful, and Mina is pretty sure she cries when Jihyo sings.

 

-

 

Tzuyu walks up to her locker, politely nodding at the football players that yell her name in the hallways. She sighs at the mountain of candygrams that greet her, and wonders how much Chaeyoung likes marshmallows.

 

-

 

_from: sana :-D_

_to: nayeonnie <3_

_Dear Nayeon,_

_Let's flip a coin. Heads I'm yours, tails you're mine._

 

-

 

_from: You-know-who_

_to: yoo jeongyeon_

_Dear Jeongyeon,_

_What's the difference between a Ferrari and a never-ending amount of love for you?_

_I don't have a Ferrari._

 

-

 

_from: Tzuyu_

_to: Chaeyoung_

_Dear Chaeyoung:_

_Did you just fart? Because you blew me away._

_:)_

_Love,_

_Tzuyu_

 

-

 

"A thousand bucks," Nayeon cheers, "Never underestimate the student population and their love for cheap, mass-produced declarations of love."

 

"Really? Nice," Jihyo blinks at her. "Hey, have you seen Mina?"

 

"Council room?" Nayeon suggests, shouldering her bag. "I can walk you there. The softball pitch's in that direction, anyway."

 

-

 

"Has it not come yet?"

 

"No," Mina sighs, folding the photobooth cloth. "I don't think she placed an order, anyway. I didn't see anything in the form."

 

"Aw, man." Momo frowns. "You need to encourage her more, man. She's going to think that you aren't interested."

 

They're alone in the council room, the rest of the council having bid everyone else goodbye. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu had been abnormally giggly, so Mina's glad at least someone's having a romantic Valentine's day.

 

"And how am I going to do that?"

 

Momo shrugs.

 

Footsteps. Nayeon's characteristically loud laugh fills the air, accompanied by Jihyo saying something, and Mina's eyes widen. She grabs for Momo's hand.

 

"Are you sure-"

 

"Kiss me," Mina says quickly, and Momo only hesitates for a moment before obeying. It looks relatively believable, even if Mina feels like she's going to throw up against Momo's lips, and even if the look in Momo's eyes tells Mina that this is a ridiculous, no-good, bad idea. Mina trusts the feeling in her gut.

 

The door opens, and Jihyo drops the candygram with Mina's name on the tag.

 

-

 

It's raining, but Sana doesn't care. She squints against the harsh stadium lights, trying to map out where the opposing batter might send the ball flying. Not for the first time, she wonders why she chose to be an outfielder. She's running half the time and still running the other half.

 

It's almost eerily silent. She can only hear her heart beating, her own heavy breathing, and the prayer in her head that goes a little something like this: _Please go well, please go well, please go well..._

The ball flies, and Sana begins running, snatching the ball from the air in the moments before she slams into the ground. A gasp goes up when she hits the muddy ground, but she doesn't care about the aching in her chin, only the shape of the ball in her hands. She got it. She caught it.

 

The whistle goes, and she exhales, picking herself up with a huge smile on her face, hoping Nayeon can see her from here.

 

-

 

Chaeyoung comes to the door at seven, in a little black dress that steals the breath from Tzuyu's lungs and almost drives her to just say _fuck it_ and press Chaeyoung up against a wall, just kiss her until she can't speak. But Tzuyu's higher instincts tell her that that would be foolish after all the effort she put in for tonight, so she suppresses those feelings, tells them to fuck off and stand in a corner and reflect on what they'd done.

 

"Wow," she says, and Chaeyoung tiptoes and presses a kiss to Tzuyu's cheek and Tzuyu thinks she might be flying. She laughs, turning to lead Chaeyoung into the depths of her home - her parents are out and she'd paid her brother off to spend the night with his friends so she'd have the place for himself. Not quite the same as renting out a restaurant, but it's the thought that counts.

 

Chaeyoung gasps when they make it to the dining table, and Tzuyu prays that it goes well.

 

She taps her fingers on the table nervously, watching as Chaeyoung appraises the spread of food on the table. There's a solitary candle lit in between the two of them, some fruity drink Tzuyu bought in place of alcohol (Jeongyeon, of all people, gave them the sobriety talk) filled in pretentious wine glasses, and even napkins. Goddamn napkins.

  
"Tzuyu," Chaeyoung starts, then stops, as if she has no idea what to say. There's a smile half-formed, frozen on her face, and Tzuyu wonders if Chaeyoung's finding this weird. She hopes it's not weird - it had been her first time planning something like this and she hopes that Chaeyoung doesn't think it's bad, or embarrassing or something like that.

 

Chaeyoung laughs, eyes crinkling, "Chou Tzuyu, you're fucking amazing."

 

Tzuyu lets out a breath she didn't think she was holding. "Does this mean you like it?"

 

"You are _so_ cute," Chaeyoung says, and steals her idea of kissing the breath out of her.

 

-

 

The final whistle goes.

 

They win.

 

Sana screams till she feels deafened.

 

-

 

They make it all the way to Nayeon's car before they start kissing, and even then it doesn't feel like it's enough. Sana is drenched from the rain, having pulled on one of Nayeon's shirts and her own shorts, and she can't help but giggle at the situation as they run to Nayeon's car. Sana leans into the passenger seat, hand holding on to Nayeon's across the gears as Nayeon starts the car up.

 

"Good job," Nayeon says, and it only takes a moment of intense eye contact before they're making out again.

 

At one point or another, Sana finds her way between Nayeon's legs, licking at her impatiently until Nayeon is panting and tugging hard on Sana's hair. It's messy and uncoordinated and Nayeon definitely didn't plan for this, for Sana to be in her car like this, with half of her clothes off and her softball garb thrown haphazardly in her back seat, but she finds that she doesn't mind.

 

So Nayeon wonders why it feels like they're running out of time as Sana crawls back up to kiss her, why she's feeling something more than just arousal as Sana settles on her thigh. She doesn't want this to be the end, she doesn't want to go without wrapping things up properly, whether it's the magic from tonight or just their senior year. She wants to hold on to this moment.

 

"Wait," she murmurs as Sana starts moving against her, holding her tight, "I have an idea."

 

-

 

They honestly, truthfully, frankly shouldn't be here. Not even if they were paid to do this, which they weren't. Not even if they were blackmailed into doing this, which they weren't. Which leaves no reason for them to be here, save for Nayeon's frankly exhibitionistic streak and Sana's general eagerness for whatever Nayeon has in mind. Add a healthy dose of teenage hormones and the excitement from the win, and you have this.

 

"Nayeon," Sana whines. She's sitting on the council desk, her legs spread and Nayeon in between them, and she feels absolutely _filthy_. Her shirt is hitched up to her bra, skirt pulled all the way down, and she shivers at the chill of the council room's air conditioning, which someone (probably Chaeyoung, but Sana doesn't want to think about the others right now) had forgotten to turn off. Nayeon, meanwhile, is still fully clothed, jeans hastily pulled on after Sana had eaten her out in her car.

 

And really, it's not fair, Sana thinks, as Nayeon's fingers begin moving again, fucking with her with a cocky sort of ease that Nayeon always has. Nayeon is always so patient, so calm with her that Sana feels like she might crawl out of her own skin waiting for Nayeon to do something. She wonders how she got so lucky, to have someone who's so attuned to her every need, who will give her anything she wants so willingly.

 

"God, Sana," Nayeon laughs darkly, "They're going to kill us if they find out." She admires how Sana looks from here, the younger girl baring her throat as she tosses her head back, and unbeknowst to Sana, wonders the exact same thing that had run through Sana's mind a minute ago. "I love you. I love you so much, baby."

 

"Me too, me- ah!" Sana squeaks when Nayeon begins moving faster, devolving into nothing but a mess of mewls and cries. "Nayeon, I-- I love you-"  


"I know," Nayeon murmurs, leaning down to press a kiss to Sana's shoulderblades.

 

Sana can barely breathe or think, so it's a wonder that she registers the door opening a moment later, the giggly mess that is Jeongyeon and Momo stumbling in with their lips locked and tugging at each other's clothes.

 

They both freeze before Nayeon clears her throat, "Occupied."

 

"I think there's someone in here," Momo hiccups, obviously drunk (and on school premises at that - faculty will have their head if they find out), pulling Jeongyeon out, "Fucking perverts... trying to fuck in the council room like we were planning... let's go, Jeongyeonnie."

 

"Mood killers," Sana grumbles, letting out a surprised squeal when Nayeon pins her back down against the desk, nipping at Sana's throat possessively. The older girl hovers over her like a cloud, and Sana whines, letting Nayeon kiss her before she laughs and begins moving again.

 

And maybe it's the rush from almost having been caught (even if it was by two of their friends), or being interrupted, but Sana is on the edge before she knows it, shuddering and shaking in Nayeon's embrace not even a minute later.

 

"We're going to have to sanitize the table," Sana says sleepily, licking at Nayeon's fingers lazily. "Get... Get the wipes from your car."

 

Nayeon laughs, petting her hair, "Whatever you say, baby."


	5. wait for it

Here's the thing about Jihyo: She rarely gets mad. She controls her temper well, and has never actually gotten angry with someone in council. The closest she's ever gotten to full-blown anger has been a cross look and a few deep breathing exercises, which Mina knows is nothing like Nayeon's anger, or even Jeongyeon's. Of the enigmatic trio, Jihyo's the most even-tempered. But this doesn't mean that she _doesn't_ get angry - it just means that it takes more for her to get angry, and that when she _does_ , it's bad.

 

It's a frosty, quiet of anger, not even noticeable at first glance till Mina realizes that Jihyo is online and not sleeping like Mina thought she was, but ignoring her texts on purpose.

 

Jihyo won't look her in the eye the next day, and continues to pointedly ignore her throughout the classes they share. It's worse than if it had happened at the start of the year, because they swapped seats to be next to each other at the start of the semester, and having Jihyo ignore her when she asks what the teacher said is just painful.

 

Jihyo has the right to be hurt. She has the right to be angry and to cold-shoulder Mina, but there's a selfish part of Mina that wished she _wouldn't_.

 

"Can I borrow a stapler?" Mina whispers, concealing her own stapler with her hand in a bid to strike up some sort of conversation, even if it's not like the chatter that Jihyo entertains her with throughout the day on most days.

 

Jihyo silently hands her hers, and Mina staples her notes together before passing it back and flashing her a gummy smile, the one she knows Jihyo's so charmed by, "Thanks, Jihyo."

 

Jihyo goes back to taking notes.

 

-

 

Jeongyeon and Momo are sitting in the school library studying - alright, _trying_ to study, because Momo can't keep her eyes on her notebook and is doodling avidly on the illustrations in her textbook instead. Jeongyeon, meanwhile, is falling asleep, and trying to remember how Mina does the whole focused-student thing.

 

They'd promised each other that they'd reward themselves post-finals season with snacks and video games and more food, but Jeongyeon finds it harder and harder to pursue that dream as the days pass. It's just so _boring_ , and it sucks that council has let out for finals season too, so there's nothing to do, no going to the council room after school and lying around on beanbags and blowing balloons for events.

 

Her eyes actually fully close for a good minute, and there's nothing but blissful static in her ears and the hard press of the corners of her textbook on her forearms as she dozes off. Momo doesn't notice.

 

A pair of knuckles rap against both their foreheads, and Jeongyeon's eyes shoot open to meet Jihyo's, Momo sputtering indignantly across her. The younger girl has her books in her arms, and she frowns sympathetically at Jeongyeon.

 

 _'Tired?'_ she mouths, and Jeongyeon sighs, nodding as she scoots over to make room for Jihyo.

 

' _You still mad at Mina?'_ Jeongyeon mouths back, and Jihyo nods too.

 

-

 

Across campus, Dahyun and Mina aren't taking finals season very well either. They're sitting in the cafeteria at Dahyun's request, the younger girl's reasoning being that there was a cute lunch lady intern (is that even a thing, Mina wonders) that appeared in school today and Dahyun didn't want to miss her. It's more of an excuse for Dahyun to gnaw on her endless supply of energy bars, though, and Mina has to stop her after her fifth one that afternoon. She confiscates Dahyun's five hour energy when she produces it, too, and shakes her head.

 

Mina stares at her Chemistry notes. They're copied practically word-for-word from Jihyo's textbook, because of that one time they studied together and Jihyo showed Mina her annotations. She swallows the feeling that bubbles up, highlighting a header and making the notes look pretty, but not much else.

 

"Mina?" Dahyun says.

 

"No energy bars," but Dahyun shakes her head stubbornly.

 

"It's not that. I was just going to ask if you were okay. You look like you're gonna cry."

 

Mina cracks a smile, hoping the fact that it doesn't go to her eyes isn't that obvious, "I'm fine, Dahyun. It's just... finals."

 

"Chemistry does that to all of us, huh?" Dahyun jokes, not looking entirely convinced, and Mina nods.

 

-

 

"Hey, Chewy?" Chaeyoung yawns into her neck, and Tzuyu curls her fingers into her girlfriend's palm. They should totally be studying, but one thing had let to another, and Tzuyu had gotten talked out of her original plan to go straight home and study. Which led to... whatever this is, with them just laying in Chaeyoung's bed and staring up at the ceiling. Tzuyu's learnt more names of planets than she ever wanted to in the past hour.

 

"Yeah?"

 

Chaeyoung does that adorable half-giggle that she always makes when she's nervous. Tzuyu honestly hadn't picked up on it until a few days ago, and that was because Chaeyoung was trying to read her a poem that she composed.

 

"I love you."

 

"Oh," Tzuyu says involuntarily, mind racing. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't been waiting for this moment, but this is sudden. All her composed fizz into thin air, and Tzuyu is left scrabbling for words as Chaeyoung laughs into her neck, soft and throaty and beautiful.

 

"You don't have to say it back now," Chaeyoung says, quiet and earnest, "But I just wanted you to know."

 

She hooks pinkies with Tzuyu sometime between reminding her that the largest planet is Jupiter and falling asleep against her collarbone, and Tzuyu just stares at Venus and wonders how she got this lucky.

 

-

 

Jihyo is practically radiating sadness when Jeongyeon steps into the council room, Nayeon sitting next to the president and saying something to her, Jeongyeon's not sure what. It's definitely related to the Mina issue, though, if the expression on Jihyo's face is anything to go by.

 

Jihyo pouts in Jeongyeon's direction when she comes in, with a look Jeongyeon knows all too well. She gave her the same look in kindergaren when Nayeon stole her crayons and refused to give them back. _Never change,_ Jeongyeon thinks dryly, taking a seat across the two of them.

 

"Alright, I can't stand this any more," Nayeon announces, pointing at Jihyo, "Let's have a sleepover. All of us, and we can fight it out."

 

"Unnie," Jihyo whines, petulant like she always is when she really, _really_ lets her guard down. It's mostly around Nayeon, because Nayeon lets Jihyo be the pampered younger sibling around her, a position that Jihyo is too prideful to admit. "I don't want to. I want to-"

  
"Continue tiptoeing around her? Ignore her for the rest of senior year and get mad when she kisses someone else again? I don't think so," Nayeon puts on her most sagely expression. "As Abraham Lincoln once said: You gotta do what you gotta do."

 

"For once, I agree," Jeongyeon nods, "Listen to your mother, Jihyo."

 

"You're not the boss of me," Jihyo wrinkles her nose at her, and Nayeon and Jeongyeon laugh.

 

"Oh, but we are."

 

-

 

"I can't believe it," Jeongyeon smiles, shaking her head, "You're so hot, you know that?" Such brazen comments are becoming the norm from Jeongyeon, the girl becoming more bold after Momo assured her that yes, they were a thing now, and Momo doesn't know if she likes it or not.

 

She flashes Jeongyeon a thumbs-up, hands on her knees as she pants from the exertion of the freestyle she'd been wildly into a moment before. They're in the dance studio, Momo having sweettalked a janitor into getting the spare key for the place so she could practice after hours.

 

It's preferable to sweating over notes and textbooks, and they've taken to coming here immediately after class, with Momo alternating between putting on random tracks and freestyling her heart out and studying. Jeongyeon just sits, studies and watches Momo from time to time. The dancing wears Momo out enough for her to stay still and focus, and it's good. Not so much for Jeongyeon, who gets plenty distracted. They've ended up making out against a mirror more than once, regrettably.

 

Momo skips the current track in favour of a bass-heavy dance piece, and Jeongyeon half-heartedly continues her trigo word problems. She doesn't doubt that she'll be looking up again soon.

 

-

 

Class is ending, and Jihyo is about to make a break for it when Mina breaks the silence that's been plaguing them for days again.

 

"Jihyo?" Mina calls out, and she feels small, useless, and shitty, staring pathetically at Jihyo's back.

 

Jihyo turns around.

 

"What is it?"

 

"I'm really sorry for what happened," Mina babbles, and then her heart is squeezing and she doesn't know what to say, because she doesn't know what she's sorry for. She's sorry for pulling the kissing stunt with Momo, because she's bad with talking and feelings and she didn't know what to _do_ , so she resorted to hurting Jihyo instead. "For-- everything."

 

Jihyo stares at her with an unreadable expression, before turning and leaving.

 

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Mina. Don't worry about it," and God does Mina worry.

 

-

 

"I was thinking," Sana says one night, when they're gathered in Jihyo's home for the sleepover that Jihyo had called over the weekend. It had taken Dahyun's parents multiple attempts to get them to let Dahyun come, but it'd worked in the end when Dahyun brought up Jihyo's position as council president and her impressive grades. "We're about to graduate, and we haven't even played a friendship-damaging Truth or Dare yet."

 

This elicits groans from the three other seniors in the circle. "Don't talk about graduation," Nayeon snaps, putting her hands over her ears, "Cursed word."

 

"I passed my finals," Momo pouts, equally mopey. "There go my plans to become a super-senior."

  
The four of them have spent the past month relatively inactive, the time being used to cram for finals instead. Chaeyoung's pretty sure she saw Nayeon walk to her class in what looked like a dream state the day of her math final, and distinctively remembers wondering if Nayeon had gotten any sleep at all. There hadn't been any events or work to finish in that time, though, so the rest of council had spent the month doing relatively little, too.

 

Chaeyoung's not sure if she prefers right now - it's prom season, and the difference this year is that they'll have to plan it. This also means that graduation is less than two weeks ago, a fact which has made everyone equally depressed. As much as they hate to admit it, they're going to miss the four seniors pretty fucking badly. (Chaeyoung caught Tzuyu tearing up while making some graduation posters the other day, and hasn't let her live it down since.)

 

"This sucks," Dahyun complains, "We knew each other for _eight_ months."

 

"And we will, for many more," replies Jeongyeon, clearly inebriated as she twiddles her fingers. Dahyun suspects that she might be the cause of the empty liquor cabinet, and hopes Jihyo's parents took precautions with their most expensive alcohol. Jeongyeon looks the classy type. "Don't worry about it, pipsqueak."

 

"Truth or dare, Jeong?" Chaeyoung asks, knocking back a shot in a shotglass that is actually Sana's. She hopes the older girl's too busy trying to lean into Nayeon and innocuously cop a feel to notice.

 

There's no hesitation in Jeongyeon as she says "dare".

 

"You're no fun," Nayeon shakes her head, "Jeong pulls this at every Truth or Dare we play. Once she ran down a street naked to avoid answering emotionally invasive questions. Tsundere much?"

 

Chaeyoung bites her lip, trying to think of a suitable dare. They haven't discussed limits, but Chaeyoung's not the type to assume that it means there are none. There's probably the long-standing rule of _no bodily fluids_ , and _no explicit sex_. That's probably about it.

 

"Uhh... I dare you to... stick your hand in a bucket of ice for a minute."

 

There's a silence, and then Tzuyu mutters that she's never heard something so lame, and that's saying something, because Tzuyu babysits her ten year-old cousins when their parents are out of town.

 

"Fuck off, I was under pressure," Chaeyoung grumbles, watching Jeongyeon gleefully skip over to the freezer to crack the ice tray open. They fill a bucket with ice cubes, and Jeongyeon even pretends to scream for Chaeyoung's benefit when she dips her hand in the bucket. Momo, however, is genuinely startled and worried for Jeongyeon's wellbeing for a moment before she realizes that she was kidding. She gets made fun of for that, but no more than usual. All nine of them are in a unique mood, fuelled by both the residual stress of finals season and the incoming stress of prom season, which results them acting more than a little strange. Or maybe it's the alcohol, they can never really tell.

 

Dare completed, Jeongyeon shuffles back to the circle, where she promptly challenges Sana, "Truth or dare?"

 

Sana flips her hair, "Truth."

 

Dahyun beats Jeongyeon to it, ignoring Jeongyeon's protest that she didn't get to ask her totally awesome question, "Who in this circle have you not kissed?"

 

A hush falls over the circle as Sana looks around, silently mouthing numbers or names, Dahyun can't tell. Nayeon looks too blissed out to care about the risky question, knocking her forehead against a shot glass and giggling incoherently.

 

Sana squints in concentration, seeming to have come to a conclusion, "Chaeyoung and Tzuyu. I've kissed the rest of you already."

 

She means chaste pecks on their cheeks over actual kissing, but that's to be expected with how fiercely loyal Nayeon and Sana are to each other. Frankly, Dahyun's surprised that Sana hasn't gotten to Tzuyu, but she did hear that the younger girl was well-versed in hapkido.

 

And then there's screaming, because Sana has lunged across the circle to get to Chaeyoung and Tzuyu at the same time. Sana eventually manages to peck them multiple times on the cheek, one shying dangerously close to a screaming Chaeyoung's mouth before Sana pulls a smug face and retreats.

 

Tzuyu is lying on the floor, eyes closed. Chaeyoung anxiously checks in on her, and the youngest member of their group shakes her head.

 

"Don't talk to me for the next five years. I need to be cleansed."

 

"So dramatic," Sana giggles, throwing her hair over her shoulder again. "Mina! Truth or dare?"

 

"Uh," Mina nervously eyes Sana, "Truth."

 

"Hm. Oh!" Sana's eyes widen mischievously, "Is there anyone in this circle that you want to kiss?"

 

"...Yes?"

 

"Who is it?"

 

"Ask that the next round, you get one question," Jihyo grumbles, standing up. "I'm going to get juice, does anyone want some?" Chaeyoung and Tzuyu have full glasses, (Momo had sternly declared at the start of the sleepover that they wouldn't be allowed to drink,) and shrug their thanks-but-no-thanks.

  
Jihyo's only been gone for ten seconds when Jeongyeon, Momo, Nayeon and Sana nudge Mina at the same time to follow her.

 

-

 

She finds Jihyo on the balcony.

 

Jihyo is standing with her back to the open balcony door, staring down at the pools and clubhouse beneath. Not for the first time, Mina wonders why she's so dumb, why she let things escalate to this. She had wanted simplicity, and simplicity she had not gotten.

 

"I'm really sorry," Mina blurts out, "I... I wanted to make you jealous."

 _Well, you succeeded,_ the look on Jihyo's face says, and Mina bites her lip, uncomfortable. Jihyo makes her feel lots of things, but _uncomfortable_ has neer been one of them, and Mina knows she fucked up.

 

"It was dumb, I know," she continues, because this feels like the one chance Jihyo will give her. "I just wanted you to do something, because I like you. A lot, Jihyo. And I guess I wanted the same back."

  
She watches the other girl breathe for a moment, neither of them saying anything before Jihyo speaks.

 

"Mina," Jihyo calls, voice low and eyes dangerously dark. Mina stills, unaccustomed to seeing this serious side of Jihyo. It's nothing like when Jihyo beams at her when ordering her drinks, or when she thanks Mina for completing the latest batch of work that they've had to soldier through because being part of council is hard.

 

"Yes?"

 

"Please stop kissing people who aren't me." The haze that's clouding Jihyo's eyes fades a moment later, and she bites her lip, back to being adorable, "Is that alright with you?"

 

It takes another long moment for her to realize that Jihyo isn't joking, and Mina finds herself laughing before it registers, "Yes. Yes, God. Of course. I promise."

 

"Good," Jihyo husks, and pulls her close.

 

They walk back to the party with Chaeyoung with her shirt off and wrapped around her head like a bandana, Jeongyeon crying into Momo's shirt because Momo is 'just too pretty', Dahyun doing somersaults in the foyer, Nayeon's head ducked into a bowl of cereal, Sana and Tzuyu playing a scarily competitive game of patty-cake, but it's okay, because that's who they are, and Jihyo's in a _really_ forgiving mood tonight.

 

-

 

Nayeon's playing with Momo's hair when she speaks into the darkness of Jihyo's (frighteningly massive) bedroom, where all nine of them are lying down side by side. Chaeyoung is curled up into Tzuyu's side again, but for the most part, they're on their backs, exchanging mindless chatter, most of it spurred on by the fact that about half of them are sloshed.

 

"I'm really gonna miss you guys." Nayeon lets out a deep sigh, "I knew I should've... failed my finals like Tzuyu told me to."

 

Sana laughs delightedly, "Aww, Tzuyu said that?"

 

"Shut up," comes Tzuyu's muffled voice, and they all laugh. At this point, it's an open secret that Tzuyu is a giant softie, no matter how much she claims to anticipate Nayeon's graduation.

"I'm scared," Jeongyeon confesses, voice splintering a little. "I got into my dream college, but no one else did, and that's pretty fucking scary. I'm going alone."

 

"No you aren't," Jihyo murmurs, "I'm coming, too." Jeongyeon and Jihyo have planned to get into the same college for the longest time now, and Jeongyeon's heartened to hear that she hasn't changed her mind. Jihyo's been dreaming of going into law, and Jeongyeon knows in her hearts of hearts that nothing's going to stop her.

 

"I know," sighs the vice-president, "But I have to wait a year for you, and that's really long."

 

"You're a good vice-pres, Jeong. In case no one ever told you," Chaeyoung says, sounding like she really means it.

 

Jeongyeon sniffles. "Thank you."

 

"I'm scared too, if it helps," Momo supplements, rubbing her thumb against the skin between Jeongyeon's index finger and thumb. Jeongyeon leans into the touch, eager, and Momo kisses her knuckles, so tender it brings tears to Jeongyeon's eyes. "I don't want to go without you, but we are and--" she sighs, "But we're going to make it work."

 

"Same here," Sana pipes up, trying to sound comforting but failing because everyone knows she and Nayeon were accepted into the same programme. It's a sweet thought, though, and Sana pats Jeongyeon's thigh gently, laughing softly when the other girl squirms. "It's gonna work out."

 

"I'm really sorry if I was a bad council member," Dahyun mumbles out of the blue, and it takes everyone by surprise. Then there's a collective wave of disagreement, so typical of them and so united that Dahyun laughs out loud. It still amazes her sometimes, how she's gotten so close to a group of girls she'd never thought could possibly exist. It makes her heart swell, how kind each and every one of them is, even if it's hidden.

  
"What did I say about that sort of talk?" Jihyo says sternly, "You're more than enough, Dubu, seriously. Right, Mina?"

 

Mina doesn't say anything, because she's asleep, having nuzzled her way into Jihyo's neck, one arm wrapped around Jihyo's waist.

 

Nayeon laughs loudly, "I can't even see you and I know how whipped you are."

 

"Shut _up_!"

 

-

 

Jihyo looks down at the glittery, sparkly mess that is Sana's card and wonders which unicorn took a dump on it. Stencilled neatly across the cover (no doubt having used a ruler - she makes a mental note to congratulate Sana) are the letters _SANA'S PARTY_ , and Jihyo flips it open to have a sachet of glitter explode in her face.

 

"Man down, man down," Dahyun reports, hand cupped in front of her mouth and running to Jihyo's side. "Miss! Will you tell us how you feel?"

 

Jihyo just stands there, looking extremely shocked, fingers twitching at her sides.

 

"I have enough self control not to swear," she says calmly after a good five seconds, Mina rushing off to get wet-wipes from her bag, "but not enough to not insist that Sana cleans all of this."

 

"I bought the easy-clean one, if it makes things better," Sana offers, trotting obediently to the broom cabinet, "Also I was curious to see who would open theirs first. Setting a precedent, president."

 

"I don't think any sort of glitter is easy-clean," Jihyo mutters.

 

The rest of them queue up to open their cards into the garbage bin before reading them, and Sana dutifully helps get the glitter off Jihyo. (Mina thinks it's a look on Jihyo, but Mina always thinks that about Jihyo anyway.)

 

"...What is this?" Momo asks.

 

"Last-day-of-school party, can't you read? My parents are out of town." Sana chirps, passing the last of the cards to Tzuyu. "I invited like, half the school. It's gonna be awesome."

 

Tzuyu's head shoots up, "Did you invite the football team?"

 

"I don't intend to, why?"

 

"Oh, good," Chaeyoung says, folding her card and slotting it in her pocket, "Yugyeom looked like he wanted to slaughter me after he saw me eating Tzuyu's candygrams on Valentine's. In my defense, she gave them to me."

 

-

 

The news about Momo's last day comes as expected, but that doesn't mean that it's nice. It comes by way of the other Mina - Kang Mina - who works weekends, who mentions offhandedly to Mina that they'll need to start hiring for someone to replace Momo soon. It hadn't been anything more than a high school job, anyway, and Mina knows that, but it doesn't stop the bitter feeling that rises in her throat when Momo comes in.

 

"You didn't tell me." She hopes she doesn't sound too whiny.

 

Momo scratches the back of her neck, looking guilty, "Yeah. I didn't. Sorry, man, I've been busy and I didn't have the time-"

 

Mina envelopes her in a hug before Momo can go on, and the older girl freezes before gently wrapping her arms around Mina.

 

It takes her another moment to realize that Mina's crying into her shoulder, small sobs and Mina's fingers digging into her back.

 

"Hey, don't worry," Momo jokes softly, rubbing the younger girl's back, "You have my number, don't you? And I'll be back for the holidays, and the long weekends. You have nothing to cry about, Minari." That, of course, sets Mina off again, and Momo eventually has to get her a cup of water to stop her from crying.

 

"This sucks," Mina hiccups, cheeks pink from crying and embarrassment at having broken down like that. She'd told herself to expect this, because it was impossible for Momo to stay forever and she was a senior so she had to go to college sometime, but it still feels unreal. "I don't want you to go."

 

"I don't want to leave either," Momo promises, ruffling Mina's hair. "Don't let this place crumble into the ground when I'm gone, okay?"

 

Mina whines, knowing that Momo's teasing her, and the older girl smiles gently, no sarcastic remark on her lips for once. She purses her lips before smirking, "And I think we have a solution to our hiring problem. How soon do you think Jihyo can come down for an interview?"

 

-

 

The seniors sit out of organizing prom, not of their own volition but because the others reckon that it'd be awkward to plan your own prom. There's not much to do, anyway, except place orders for food and drinks and decorations, which Dahyun covers about half of.

 

(Sana tells her she's proud of her, from one liaison to another, and Dahyun nearly cries.)

-

 

Graduation itself doesn't feel like graduation. It rains hard, so the senior class is hurried into the gymnasium, where their principal gives a short speech before they're going on stage in stuffy rented robes and Oxford caps. Jeongyeon gives a speech - it's usually the council president, but Jihyo isn't speaking for obvious reasons - littered with inside jokes and analogies that's received with racuous applause. Jeongyeon looks very pleased as she hops off the podium.

 

And then they're walking - and really, the younger girls try to pay attention and not doze off, but there are so many of them that Jihyo ends up shaking them awake when the older girls walk. Nothing big happens, anyway. Nayeon, coming up behind Momo (the two girls come consecutively alphabetically), steps on Momo's oversized robe and nearly falls face-first into Momo's back, only to be steadied by that footballer Jaebum. Thankfully, no one seems to notice.

 

For the most part, it's exactly as boring as Nayeon warned them it would be, but they cling on to Sana's promise that the party will be the highlight of the otherwise dreary day.

 

-

 

"This wasn't my idea of a romantic date," Mina says dryly.

 

Jihyo turns back to kiss her cheek, laughing, "Why? Isn't this great?"

 

At this precise moment, the golden retriever puppy that's been trotting obediently by Jihyo's side sees another dog across the street and decides to run rounds around both Mina and Jihyo, wrapping their ankles together with his leash. The dog from across the street barks, and their puppy does his best big-boy bark, inadvertently tripping Mina in the process.

 

Mina lands on her butt, "Fuck."

 

Jihyo hushes her, gingerly stepping out of the leash and tugging on it to get the puppy back to her side, "Don't swear in front of the puppies."

 

The puppy that Mina's been walking, a quiet Labrador, noses concernedly at her knee as Jihyo helps her up. She laughs, petting her gently on the head, safe in the knowledge that _her_ puppy is the better one. (She may or may not have told that to Jihyo's face, to which Jihyo had replied 'every puppy's a good puppy'. Mina fervently disagrees.)

 

"I'm just saying," Mina remarks as they keep walking, Jihyo holding her puppy closer by the leash this time, "This isn't the most romantic thing I could've thought of."

 

"Helping my neighbors dogsit is romantic," Jihyo defends. They're walking along the stretch of road outside Jihyo's place that leads to the main road, Jihyo having eagerly volunteered their dogsitting services after it turned out that her neighbours had to go overseas urgently. _Whoever's important enough to have to go overseas urgently is important enough to have contingency plans for their dogs,_ Mina had grumbled, but Jihyo had just laughed and kissed her.

 

Kissing. They've been doing a lot of that, mostly to make up for any lost time that they spent cockblocking themselves. In the time between the sleepover and now, Jihyo has learnt a lot of things about Mina, one of the most important being that Mina goes absolutely weak for cheek kisses. She blushes so prettily and it's always nice to watch and to do, if only just to fluster Mina for a few moments. Once again, Mina curses herself for letting Jihyo in on all her biggest weaknesses.

 

"I guess they're cute," Mina admits. She steps away from Jihyo just as another excitable puppy comes up from the end of the street, squinting at Jihyo's puppy suspiciously. Her puppy runs another round around Jihyo in his excitement, and Mina shakes her head. "My puppy's still better."

 

"Is not."

 

Mina wraps her arm around Jihyo's waist, lips ghosting past her ear teasingly, "Is too." Jihyo flushes a bright red, and Mina smiles smugly.

 

-

  
Cars line up for blocks around Sana's neighborhood, and really, someone should call the police, because this has the potential to blow up.

 

A terrified Chaeyoung clings to Nayeon's side as the older girl weaves through human traffic into the heart of the party - that is, Sana's living room. The entire house is filled with teenage bodies, and Chaeyoung feels her head spin as Nayeon sits her down on a stool.

 

"FEELING OKAY?" Nayeon shouts over the music.

 

"I'M NOT FEELING VERY GAY RIGHT NOW," Chaeyoung yells back.

 

"IT'S A GOOD DAY, YEAH," Nayeon nods, "DO YOU WANT A DRINK?" That, Chaeyoung understands, and she bounces to the kitchen with Nayeon, watching Nayeon raid Sana's cabinets like she knows exactly where is. Nayeon eventually pulls out a Diet Coke for Chaeyoung, which Chaeyoung sulks for a total of two minutes over.

 

Eventually, Nayeon and Chaeyoung are separated - Nayeon scampers off to go find one person or another, and Chaeyoung is left in the middle of Sana's kitchen, nursing her Coke with a face she hopes doesn't scream please-kill-me-now. About ninety percent of the people in the house are seniors, about half of which give Chaeyoung puzzled looks when they see her. No one bothers her, though, which is good, except for the drunk couple that accidentally bumps into Chaeyoung while trying to kiss. Chaeyoung forgives them.

 

She makes a move to hop off the countertop, wanting some fresh air. The barrel of a Nerf gun presses into her back, and she whips her head around to find a grim-eyed Jihyo.

 

"Wanna get out of here?" It should _not_ sound as much of a proposition as Jihyo makes it sound, but Chaeyoung puts it down to the fact that Jihyo isn't entirely steady on her feet, and that her eyes are red. She nods, and Jihyo shoots a dart at the nearest set of rowdy boys.

 

It takes three more darts before they can move, and then Jihyo's holding the Nerf gun protectively close to her chest, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

 

"Jihyo!" a cheerleader, Yerim she thinks, waves wildly at Jihyo. Jihyo points the Nerf gun at Yerim and pushes Chaeyoung along.

 

This is turning out to be a little too hostage-esque for Chaeyoung, and she turns around, eyebrows raised, "Are you drunk?"

 

At this moment, Mina shoves through the crowd, obviously worried till she sees Jihyo. She grabs Jihyo's elbow, "I've been looking for you everywhere. What are you doing with that?"

 

"Move out," Jihyo commands, and proceeds to barrel roll into the crowd.

 

-

 

"Where are Nayeon and Sana?" Jihyo asks, clipboard in hand, "I need to ask them what colour corsages they want. We're getting them wholesale." Jihyo sighs dreamily, probably thinking of good deals or something equally lame.

 

The other girls shrug.

 

"I have no idea, but I do know that that-" Tzuyu points at the sheet of cardboard in the garbage can "-is Sana's promposal to Nayeon."

 

Sana's promposal to Nayeon had been the most elaborate, most extravagant, most _Sana_ thing possible. The details are hazy, but it had involved balloons, a whole lot of helium, and streamers, and Nayeon who had acted like she was accepting a marriage proposal when Sana slid the ring pop onto her finger. None of them underestimate the notion of Sana eventually proposing to Nayeon, though, but for now, they'll have to keep it to ring pops and cardboard signs with Sana's best drawing of Nayeon.

 

"She proposed?" Chaeyoung frowns as Dahyun cheers from across the room. "I thought it'd be Nayeon-unnie. She's so whipped."

 

"So did I," Momo whispers brokenly, handing a few folded bills to a triumphant Dahyun.

 

-

 

"If it weren't for these mortal shackles," Nayeon gestures emphatically towards her carefully-applied makeup and the figure-hugging dress she has on, "I would've jumped on you by now."

 

Sana giggles out a 'Likewise', and Jeongyeon shakes her head in disappointment.

 

"TMI," she sighs, peering in the mirror and fixing her hair carefully. Momo had messed it up by challenging Jeongyeon to an impromptu fistfight, a fistfight which ended with her tackling Jeongyeon into the couch and screaming when Jeongyeon started tickling her.

 

The girl in question comes into Nayeon's bedroom where the four of them are gathered, "Hey, the limousine's here, we should go."

 

They'd decided to pool their money together to get the prom limousine that Nayeon's literally dreamed about since she was a kid - she couldn't be happier. The other three, meanwhile, are just pleased to live up to the stereotypes.

 

"Okay," Jeongyeon replies, looking for something. Nayeon and Sana link arms and leave the room in a fit of giggles and whispers, whispers Momo is glad she isn't overhearing. She still has war flashbacks to the time she was stuck in an elevator with the two of them. "You should have this."

 

Momo catches the silver slap bracelet corsage and laughs out loud. It's nothing like the rose corsage Nayeon had handed Sana a while ago, but it's so uniquely Jeongyeon that she loves it on sight. She raises her voice obnoxiously to be half as high as Sana's, "It's beautiful, Jeongyeonnie! I love it."

"No, I love you baby," Jeongyeon imitates Nayeon, scrunching her face up ,and they kiss messily, teeth clicking and lips smearing lipstick against each other. "Come on, let's go be better than them." Momo's pretty sure her makeup's smudged.

 

-

 

"The Ultimate Prom Playlist," Dahyun reads off from the Spotify window she has open. Tzuyu managed to talk Miss Kim (yes, _that_ Miss Kim) into lending them her Spotify account, if only to listen to music without constant ads with sirens and equally terrifying sounds interrupting. Dahyun scrolls, "Lame. Lame. Lame."

 

"You're calling all of them lame," Chaeyoung points out as Dahyun calls a Michael Jackson song lame. (It's a Billie Jean remix - Chaeyoung wonders what year this playlist was created.)

 

"Because they are. Who _is_ Mariah Carey anyway?" Dahyun throws her hands in the air. "This is ridiculous. I'm going to play my own playlist."

 

"Which one?" Mina asks.

 

"Oh, nothing," Dahyun says, leaning back in her chair.

 

Mina squints suspiciously, "...Is it the one with Skrillex and Jake Paul?"

 

"...Maybe."

 

"I don't think that's the most appropriate-"

"Oh would you look at the time, it's go time! Go go go!" Dahyun races out of the council room, laptop cradled in her arms, and Mina thinks back to the fact that Dahyun is planning to run for council again next year.

 

-

 

Jihyo finds Chaeyoung hiding in the council room when prom is in full swing, Dahyun having left to go emcee the dance, Tzuyu and Mina running around making sure everything's going well.

 

"What are you doing here?"

 

Chaeyoung looks up, shrugging, "There's nothing to do. Everyone's so pretty tonight, and me? Well." She gestures to the spare shirt and cardigan (Tzuyu's) she'd pulled on when rushing out of the house. "I'm gonna lie low till it's time."

 

"Mhm." Jihyo sits down beside Chaeyoung. It's not on a beanbag, because they decided to return them to Nayeon so she can bring them when she moves into her dorm room next week. It's just the dusty floor, and Jihyo sighs, leaning against the wall. "What a year, huh?"

 

"Yeah. I'm gonna miss them. You'll be gone next year, and then," Chaeyoung laughs sharply, "It's just gonna be me and Tzuyu. Though I think she wants to focus on track, so it'll be just me." She clenches her fist, "Things were a lot easier when I didn't have any friends."

 

It's so raw that it makes Jihyo's heart sting. "That's a pretty heavy thing to say."

 

Chaeyoung nods, smiling, "Thanks for everything, man. I know it's not the end yet, but someone had to tell you before the year was over. You do more than you have to, really."

 

"Let's go check on Mina and Tzuyu," Jihyo says thickly, and Chaeyoung smiles before following her.

 

-

The moment comes during the crowning of prom king and queen. It's one of the more likeable members of the football team and a girl from the softball team - Namjoon and Jisoo. They fit well together, and stand on stage, frilly crowns and robes draped over them, much to the amusement of the student body. That's not the moment that matters, though. The moment is when Sana tears up as they're gathered in a circle, all nine of them.

 

They all cry. It's a mess, and also plenty strange, with the rest of the graduating class around them having a fucking blast as the nine-girl student council stands around crying. Even Tzuyu has to blink hard, ever-aware of her hardass reputation. (Later on, she'll insist that she didn't cry, but they'll know better. At this point, they know Tzuyu better than she knows herself.)

 

Mina provides tissues for the seniors so they don't smudge their makeup, and Sana smiles before shaking her head and croaking out in a very un-Sana way, "You're so nice, Minari."

 

Jeongyeon, Momo and Sana manage to keep their makeup relatively intact, and Nayeon's the only one who ends up ugly crying so much that she has to re-apply her makeup. It's a tough life, but she only sticks out her tongue when Jihyo and Jeongyeon point out that her crying face hasn't changed in eighteen years.

 

As prom winds down to a close, the seniors pitching in one last time to clean up and make sure everything's where it should be, they don't cry, because that would be lame and embarrassing and make them emotionally vulnerable. Instead, they joke, if only to work off the tension. Nayeon 'accidentally' pitches her corsage at Dahyun when the younger girl makes fun of Nayeon's crying face again. Sana nearly falls face-first into a huge rubbish bin, Mean Girls style, only to be saved by Tzuyu, who stoically pulls her back before she can make her leap of faith into the bin. Mina and Jihyo disappear into the council room and come out with Mina's appearance noticeably disheveled and Jihyo wearing a smug smirk. Chaeyoung and Dahyun challenge each other to hundred metre dashes from the gymnasium to the council room that end with Dahyun getting friction burn when she slides the last few metres.

 

Jihyo hurries them back to the council room once it's done, and it's nearly ten at night, but they do it anyway, even the seniors with their glittery dresses and heels. They scream and sprint back to the council room, screaming out for each other to avoid whatever evil spirits linger in school at night to kill innocent council members, and Jihyo looks back and thinks that this has been a _really_ long year.

 

But she also knows that despite the fact that four of their now close-knit group of friends are leaving and crossing the country to continue their academic lives, away from the rest of them, or that this was the first _ever_ student government to exist in their school and that meant that they couldn't do much as they wanted to, or that she's not sure what the coming academic year will hold... She knows that they're going to be okay.

 

-

 

"Here," Nayeon says when they're all gathered in the council room for one last meeting, dropping a heavy notebook into Jihyo's hands. "The four of us prepared this notebook for you to read. A... goodbye letter, I guess." She smiles crookedly, eyes filled with emotion.

 

Jihyo nods slowly and opens the notebook. On the first page is Nayeon's letter, and she bursts out laughing, beginning to read from it, " _My beautiful council mates--_ "

 

"Please don't read it out loud," Nayeon whines, clamping her hands over her ears, "You can make copies and read it in your own time, or whatever. Just don't read it out loud." The look on her face tells Jihyo that the messages they left were probably deeply personal and emotional, so she relents for once, closes the notebook with promises that she'll make copies for the rest. The four graduating girls look happy with that idea.

 

"So." Jihyo stands, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. She looks to Mina helplessly, but thankfully, everyone seems to get the idea. There's some buzzing, but it seems that no one knows how they should conclude this chapter of their lives.

 

"How about another champagne bottle pop?" Tzuyu suggests, looking oddly sentimental. It turns out that Tzuyu has a case of champagne - real alcohol this time, to their excitement - in her backpack, and she hands it to Jihyo to do the honours, warning Jihyo not to drop it because she spent half of her allowance on it.

 

Jihyo grabs a rag off the table, peeling the foil off the bottle and loosening the wire cage. She fits the rag gently over the bottle, looking at everyone in the eye. There are mixed emotions around the table, some of them looking nervous, others excited and bouncing out of their seats (or maybe that's just Dahyun), but there's one thing in common - happiness. It wasn't there from the very start, wasn't a shared feeling when they were with each other at the start of the year, when they'd just gotten elected and had to grapple with a council of nine people, but they've grown and changed and matured so much that Jihyo can't comprehend it herself.

 

Jihyo is so, so happy to have these girls in her life.

 

"To a happy future," she murmurs, and repeats it when she sees the other girls straining to hear. "To a happy future!" She twists the cork, hard, and it slides out quietly, without any fuss or sound.

 

"Aw, that sucked," someone says, and they all laugh.

 

So, as do all great things, this ends with not a bang, but a whimper, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

 

///

_to: My beautiful council mates_

 

_Hello everyone! It's Nayeon. I hope you aren't reading this fifty years into the future and going, "Who's Nayeon?", because that shouldn't be the case. You should remember me as long as you can, because I'm pretty cool. So if you're reading this as a middle-aged disappointment, remember: I'm Im Nayeon, and I was the coolest member of council when we were in council together._

_I'll miss all of you lots, even if I haven't expressed it (I have, by the way, if the emo texts at 3am to the group chat weren't enough). Take care of yourselves, and do your homework or whatever nerdy shit you new age kids do._

_To Jihyo, Dahyun, Mina: Senior year is going to be hell, but it's not the end of the world. The end of the world is learning that you have double Math twice a week. Chaeyoung, Tzuyu: Take it easy. The two of you are the most overachieving sophomores I've /ever/ met, and that's saying a lot, because I knew Jihyo as a sophomore._

_(Jihyo, btw: I'm so proud of you.)_

_Ring me up if you need advice on (a) Girls, (b) How to deal with being pretty, (c) Methods to subdue female softball captains, either in the physical way or the sex way. I'm pretty good with those, though I can also help you if your car breaks down._

_It's up to you now, kids. Good luck!_

_XX_

_Nayeon_

///

 

_To: Friends of Jeongyeon_

_Tips from Jeongyeon:_

_1) Say what you mean and mean what you say._

_2) Keep your friends close and your enemies closer._

_3) Eat your vegetables and cut down on processed foods_

_4) Early to bed, early to rise, makes a girl healthy, wealthy and wise_

_5) Tell the people you love that you love them._

_6) Think about Jeongyeon as often as you can. Send her care packages with Pepero and cup ramen to her dorm as long as your wallet allows for it._

_7) Remember that Jeongyeon knows that council is in safe hands._

_8) (For Chaeyoung) Lend Jeongyeon your heart-eye sunglasses_

_9) Cut down on the caffeine or the caffeine will cut down on you._

_10) Find people who make you happy. N*yeon and S*na are gross, but they love each other. Find someone who you'd run in the rain and fuck in the council room for. (Not implying that they, or myself and Momo have done anything like that.)_

_-Jeongyeon_

///

 

_To: My babies!!_

_(It's a drawing of the nine council members sitting around their table. Momo is sitting at the head of the table, despite there being no head of the table in real life. A speech bubble is drawn, making Momo say 'I must have more'. The stick figure to her left, presumably Mina, is handing her a large plate.)_

_Eat well, sleep well, study well!! (_ _─_ _‿‿_ _─_ _)m Love all of you, thanks for being the best underclassmen we could've wished for. And don't fail your finals just to become a super senior!! >:( I'm so proud of each and every one of you, so don't forget it! _

_Also!! Make sure to keep each other happy like you did this year. This was rlly one of the best years of my life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything :) See you soon, kids._

_< 3 _

_Momo_

///

 

_To: Babies!!_

_We're out!! Thanks for everything!! I might not be here in spirit or in body or in mind or anything, but what you CAN do is Skype me at XXXX, call me at XXXX, or visit me in my dorm room! Hit me up if you want to go out and have a good gay girls' night out, I've always wanted to have one of those!! Good luck with council next year, if you choose to continue it, and make sure you eat enough and sleep enough! That's very important!! Being loyal to your GFs comes second!! Whatever you choose, just know that I'm supportive, even if you choose to do something illegal!! I will still support it, but caution you against getting arrested!!_

_Love Sana (the lack of comma is intentional)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8 days, 95 pages on word, 32 thousand words later -- it's over. thank you for reading this fic and kudoing/commenting/bookmarking it, it really means a lot. additional content for this au might be released since i doubt i can let it go that easy, maybe an epilogue soon :) but for now, thank you so much for supporting this!!


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